September 27: CLOSE OF THE THIRD ANGEL’S MESSAGE
And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name. Revelation 14:11
The harshness of God’s warning serves a clear purpose: the eternal impact is so critical that He is not risking any misunderstanding. An accompaniment of the beast’s mark (Sunday-keeping) is the defiling of the true Sabbath (see Isaiah 56:1-7). Already, the leasing of retail space cannot be secured apart from signing an agreement to work on the seventh day (Saturday) of every week. In other words, the honoring of the beast’s false day of worship goes hand-in-hand with a commitment in writing to ignore the Sabbath of the Lord. Herein lies another irony: the recipients of the beast’s mark, in their high-pressure tactics to force people not to rest on the Sabbath, will discover a fatigue and insomnia far worse than ever before experienced: they have no rest day or night. Once the mark-of-the-beast crisis takes center stage as prophesied, probation will be closed. There will be no opportunity remaining for repentance (see the pronouncement in Revelation 22:11).
The smoke [that] ascends forever and ever is a reference to total destruction, not endless burning. It symbolizes the permanent, unchangeable consequences of choosing man’s way over God’s. The Old Testament prophets considered the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah as a model for the permanent destruction of ancient Babylon (Compare Isaiah 13:19 and Jeremiah 50:40 – see also Jude 7). John the Revelator employs the same language to describe the fate of end-time Babylon. This fearful language points to annihilation. The vivid language of the third angel’s message is for the purpose of stirring up the God-given senses of the people, to move and encourage them to stand firm in the face of Satan’s end-time deception, thus rendering unwavering allegiance to the only true God.
The intimidation tactics employed by the beast and his image – beginning with economic punishment followed by a death decree (Revelation 13:15-17) – are meant to compel the world to choose false religion. But any selfish fear stirred by this coercive intimidation is dispelled by a greater fear; the fear of God that has been lauded through the ages as the beginning of wisdom (Psalm 111:10). Those who respond to His call will escape the fate of the satanic trinity – the dragon…the beast… the false prophet (16:3) and their multitude of deceived, deluded followers. Hear these words of Jesus:
“And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” Matthew 10:28
Note: The fiery judgement depicted at the return of Christ is the first of two stages of God’s final judgement. The second stage is known as the “great white throne judgement” and is detailed in Revelation 20. The thousand-year period, often referred to as the millennium, is between these two stages of final judgement. The redeemed are in the heavenly Jerusalem during the 1000 years with access to the records (20:4) – every question will be answered. The “when” and “where” of hell is answered in 20:9-15 (see also Psalm 21:9; Malachi 4:1,3) The fire is not quenched, but rather is allowed to burn until it has thoroughly consumed the wicked. Some will burn longer than others (see Luke 12:47-48).