THE FIRST PLAGUE by B. G. Wilkinson

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Dec 25, 1900

THE FIRST PLAGUE

By B. G. Wilkinson

The seven angels of Revelation 15, standing within the temple, receive their commission to pour out the vials of the wrath of God. With intense interest, they had been watching the mighty struggles going on in chapters 12-14. In these struggles they had seen the first Beast of chapter 13, while in the midst of his blasphemous career, receive a deadly wound. They saw that as, wounded almost to death, he lay weak and dying, suddenly a second Beast appeared. They beheld this new arrival go to the Beast with the deadly wound, and offer to raise up again his worship and enforce the mark of his authority. Then opened to their view the third and last great struggle between the children of God and worldly powers. They had watched the first struggle between the dragon and the Church. They had followed with intense interest the second mighty conflict—the one between the Beast and the saints upon whom he made war. But as the third struggle began between the combined forces of the two beasts of Revelation 13 and the remnant Church, the seven angels received their commission to act.

“And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the Beast, and upon them which worshiped his image.” Wickedly obstinate to the claims of God, the ungodly are arrested in their career by the outpouring of the first vial. The contents of this cup fall with fearful effect. The followers of the Beast and the receivers of his mark are at last awakened to the seriousness of the issue.

This third, and last, great struggle of the Church being as surely just before us as the two preceding conflicts are behind, let us examine this plague. Its reality, its nature, and its duration are very clear.

This plague must be literal. If it were symbolical, what then would be the plague? Moreover, almost all the plagues are literal. It may be urged that the drying up of the river Euphrates in the sixth plague is symbolical. But how could it be otherwise? Under the third plague the rivers have been turned into blood. It would then be no plague, but a blessing, to dry up the great river, which surely the third angel did not overlook. In its nature, a plague is a torment, vexatious to existence. Since the torment of the guilty is aimed at in the first plague, the end is better secured by the falling of this sore than by some unknown thing symbolized.

We might have a better understanding of the severity of this plague if the somewhat antiquated language by which the Greek is translated did not conceal its nature. The Greek word from which “sore” is translated is set over almost literally into the Latin as ulcus, from which we get our word “ulcer.” This sore, then, is similar to an ulcer. It is of a deeply imbedded, severe, and corrupting nature. Malignant and deadly in its character, it is more fearful than a sore occasioned by a bruise.

It does not relieve its prey by ending their pains with death; for while the fifth plague is falling, it is stated that men blasphemed God because of their “sores.” What sores? No other sore has appeared in the record save the first. Also the word used for sore in both cases is the same. We then conclude that few, probably none, will be able to shake off, when once received, this distressing plague, while others will be added to it.

Who will receive this grievous visitation of God’s anger?—Those who receive the mark of the Beast and worship his Image. How far over the earth shall this plague extend?—As far as the worship of the Beast with the enforcement of his mark has gone.

In order to escape the penalty of receiving the mark of the Beast, it must be determined what the Beast is. To get this understanding, it would be best to go to the record where the Beast is first introduced, and there, at its origin, to study the description of it, and from that to follow onward its career. The Beast, as “the beast,” begins with Revelation 13. In the first ten verses of this chapter his description is so fully and so accurately given that he is easily identified. There is only one power which can answer to this record—it is the papacy, the Church of the pope.

One characteristic will be sufficient to locate him. John says: “He opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, and His tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.” To this power are attributed blasphemies greater and more successful than those of any other rebel mentioned in Scripture. In fact, it is its unusually blasphemous character that marks this power as Antichrist. Since the clear meaning of Antichrist is one who puts himself in the place of Christ, we must expect this blasphemy to consist of pretentious claims and acts—claims and acts that are justified in Christ alone. The Bible thus defines two such blasphemies:—

1. “Jesus answered them, Many good works have I showed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me? The Jews answered Him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.” Jesus did not deny this definition of blasphemy. His answer indorsed it, by showing that He is the Son of God, and therefore had not blasphemed by putting himself in the place of God. Since blasphemy here is putting man in the place of God; and since all admit that Antichrist would arise in the Christian Church, what blasphemous power has arisen in the Christian Church, putting itself in the place of God? John 10: 32, 33.

2. “When Jesus saw their faith, He said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee. But there were certain of the scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts, Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only?” Mark 2: 5-10. Again Jesus indorsed this definition of blasphemy by demonstrating His power to forgive sins. Would that all who claim power to forgive sins could as divinely support their claim! Here blasphemy is claiming power to forgive sin.

In each of the two Scripture quotations given, it stands out clear that blasphemy consists of those acts which would be expected of Antichrist. What great power having the publicity attributed to the Beast of Revelation 13, claims the power on earth to forgive sins?—There is only one; it is the papacy. Demanding that men shall recognize the power of its priests to change at the service of the mass a flour wafer into the body of Christ, and common wine into His blood, the papacy blasphemously puts itself in the place of Christ; it further blasphemes when it claims a full and unconditional power to forgive sins.

The Beast is the papacy. His mark, what is it? It can not be a literal mark; for a literal mark is one no man can resist receiving from a strong power. Suppose it were a brand upon the head. What man could avoid receiving it were the government officers to bind him and stamp it by force? The combined forces of the two beasts hold full sway, do they not?

Upon penalty of death, they require all men to receive this mark. Rev. 13: 16, 17. But there are some who do not receive it. Rev. 15: 2. Therefore it can not be a literal mark; because, if it were, no one could successfully escape it; it could be stamped even after death. It must, then, be a spiritual mark.

What this mark is can easily be determined. It is said to be “a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads.” Since it is a spiritual mark, it must needs be one that will spiritually affect the right hand and the forehead. Do the Scriptures mention any such mark? Only two marks which affect the hand and the forehead can be found in the Bible. Of these two we may easily know the right one; because the Lord has abolished one of the two.

The first one, the one abolished, is the Passover. “And it shall be for a sign unto thee upon thine hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes, that the Lord’s law may be in thy mouth.” Ex. 13: 9. By noticing the nature of the Passover, it can be seen how it was a spiritual mark upon the hand and upon the forehead. The expression “between thine eyes” means the forehead.

The observance of the Passover required that on certain days no usual work should be done. Thus it was a mark on the right hand; for the forbearance from labor, and especially for religious reasons, would certainly have a discriminating effect. To keep properly the Passover it was also required that the mind should be occupied with God’s law. A true observer would then refuse to enter into conversation or to engage in any scheme not in harmony with God’s law. Thus that person would be marked. The Passover would, by obedience to these requirements, become a sign on the hand and on the forehead.

There was another such sign. It is found in Deut. 11: 13, 18: “Ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day. . . . Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes.” A frontlet was a band worn on the forehead.

Moses is speaking here of God’s commandments. These commandments were to be a sign upon the hand and upon the forehead. How could they be? All the commandments, or each one of them, could be a sign on the forehead,—in the mind,—for on them could we think, and by them could we regulate our conduct. But only one of these commandments could be—like the Passover, by requiring us to cease from labor—a sign on the hand. The fourth commandment, the keeping of the Sabbath, imposes the refraining from labor one day each week. Therefore it is a sign upon the hand. Like the Passover, the proper observance of the Sabbath requires that the observer shall not speak his own words. This Isaiah says in chapter 58: 13.

Of these two marks,—the Passover and the Sabbath,—which is the one to which the Beast of Revelation 13 will oppose a counterfeit mark? It can not be the Passover; for that ceased at the cross of Christ. Since then, no holy time has been given that in its nature is similar—similar by demanding cessation from labor. Since the Sabbath is the only mark remaining that is, first, spiritual, second, a mark on the hand and forehead, the mark of the Beast must be a counterfeit Sabbath.

How plain at once does this make the first plague. The combined forces of the two beasts are determined to have a mark. Judas and the Jews united to accomplish the death of the Saviour; but they both perished in a terrible retribution. So these powers, combining to enforce a mark unreceivable by God’s people, are themselves compelled to receive a retributive mark. The awful sore of the first plague falls to mark those who have received the sign of the Beast.

God warned the world not to receive the false Sabbath. It was His design to place a mark upon all people by leading them to observe the Sabbath He gave. But the majority preferred to receive the forbidden mark. Since they would not receive the mark which was God’s choice, God now makes them receive a mark which is not their choice. They

would not listen to God’s pleadings not to receive the mark of the Beast; now God will not listen to their pleadings not to receive the mark of this plague. The first plague falls with fearful effect. So distressing does it become that the men blaspheme God. The character of the Beast is now apparent: “He opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, and His tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.” Its blasphemous character may be hidden in the day of God’s mercy; but in the day of His wrath it is openly manifest: they who receive the mark of the Beast blaspheme God as the very first consequence of having received the mark.

How far will the visitation of the first plague be felt?—As far as the mark of the Beast has gone. “Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.” Rev. 14: 8. Do not seek for mission fields entirely free from Babylon’s corrupting influence. There are none. Babylon has gone to all nations. Then arise, and go after her. Go, and warn the people everywhere that if they receive the mark of the Beast, they must also receive the plagues. Go, believing that as surely as Rome is regaining her power, so surely will the enforcement of her sovereign badge follow. Go, knowing that as certainly as the churches refuse to renounce this forbidden mark, so certainly is approaching the falling of the first plague.

B. G. WILKINSON.

EDITORS’ NOTE: This is the fourth in the series of eight studies on The Plagues. The next article will be “The Second and Third Plagues.” Your friend should read these articles. Invest twenty-five cents in a two-months’ subscription for him. If you can invest fifty cents to send these eight articles to TWO friends, so much the better. We can furnish the back numbers. You may pay in postage stamps if you wish.