Forward to Zion: Ohio Camp Meeting 2015: For Such a Time as This

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Forward to Zion

Morning Devotional

Edwin de Kock

The Lord is Coming. Are You Ready?

It is a great pleasure to be with you here.

HMS Richards had a theme song, lift up the trumpet and loud let it ring.

They also had another song they liked singing, The Lord is coming, are you ready?

That second song, I heard it sung, oh, probably there in the middle of the 60s, 1960s, back in South Africa, when a physician, Dr.

Leroy Latterhan, with 1 of the most glorious bass voices that I've ever heard sang it.

And all these beautiful songs about the second coming, They are wonderful.

But lift up the trumpet and loudly let it ring.

Well, somebody says, no brother, Don't lift it up.

Put a potato into it to muffle the sound.

I hope as we as Seventh-day Administers will not put a potato in.

No, lift up the trumpet and loud let it ring.

Jesus is coming again, coming again, coming again.

But it is a bit of a shame that it is necessary for us as Seventh-day Adventists to rehearse this theme again, as though we were not always sure what we believed about it.

Well, the Bible tells us there in Acts 1, verse 11, when Jesus had ascended and the disciples were gazing up after him, suddenly there were 2 men, angels in bright garments saying, you men of Galilee, Why are you looking up like that?

This same Jesus whom you have seen taken up into heaven, into the cloud, will likewise come back.

He is in a cloud, a mysterious cloud which really is a host of angels.

And in the Apocalypse, Revelation 1 verse 7, We read, every eye will see him, including those who will have pierced him.

He comes with clouds and every eye will see him.

Oh no, the Jehovah's Witnesses say, that's not really an eye, that's an inward eye of understanding.

Now, they were not the first to say funny things like that, there was a Jesuit by the name of Luis del Alcazar in the 16th century in the time of the counter-reformation.

He said, well, yes, he'll be coming back, but it's really also the clouds of preaching of the gospel.

And Jesus told us about his second coming, sitting on the Mount of Olives, looking down through the centuries.

He saw and told his disciples everything that would happen.

How Jerusalem would be destroyed, how there would be persecution, A great tribulation such as the world has never seen and never will see again.

And if the days would not be shortened, nobody would be saved, but the days would be shortened.

But he said beyond that, how the Lord would come.

It would be like the lightning striking, lighting up the sky from the east to the west.

And there will be this great trumpet sound, and his angels would gather his elect.

And he said, careful, There will be many false Christs and false prophets.

When they say, go out into the desert, Go out to Mormon, Utah.

Or if they say, well, he's in the secret rooms, don't go to a spiritualistic seance.

Also, Jesus does not come to you when you die and you go to heaven, Something that will not happen, for the dead know not anything.

But the Lord also said there would be certain signs, great earthquake, the sun darkening, Great earthquake, the sun darkening, the stars falling, and that is said even more clearly in the book of Revelation under the sixth seal.

And there was the greatest in recorded history up to that time.

In 1755, the great Lisbon earthquake, which also caused a tsunami, a great wall of water, which destroyed most of Lisbon in Portugal, cities in Morocco and North Africa, killing 40 to 50, 000 people.

The effects of it being noted as far north as Finland and as far west as the Caribbean.

Now you have heard of tsunamis in the year 2004.

On December the 26th, There was this great tsunami in the far east.

Well, it was our 50th wedding anniversary, the great earthquake.

Not long after it, there was the great dark day seen in New England and as far as Canada.

It started between 10 and 11 o'clock in the morning and it went on until past midnight of the next night.

They confused fowls to roost because this was a sign of nightfall to them.

Now, nobody knows exactly what caused it.

But whatever the cause, it happened, the Lord had predicted it.

And then when the moon became visible, It was as red as blood.

After 1798, which marked the beginning of the time at the end, it was the last of the 3 signs because they were in a specific sequence.

The great earthquake, the darkening of the sun called the great dark day, and the falling of the stars in 1833, the Leonid meteorites.

Somebody actually ran out and read from the Bible by the light of those stars about the falling of the stars in the book of Revelation.

And some of those meteors were huge, some of them visually were bigger than the moon, exploding like fireballs, like nothing that you or I have seen.

Now Jesus had said that there would be a great tribulation such as the world has not seen and never will see again.

And in Reformation lands, the time was shortened about 200 years.

Now, near the end of this were these 3 signs, and eventually beyond that will be the sign of the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven, the clouds again.

Now notice that we're also told by the Apostle Paul that the Lord will come, it will be very visible, it will be loud with the sound of a trumpet, not some inconspicuous thing, and it will not be a secret rapture either.

But you see, the devil doesn't like these prophecies, so he set about subverting the interpretation.

This brings us to this further point that the great tribulation that Jesus spoke about there in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21, as is parallel in the book of Daniel, Daniel 12 verse 1, it speaks about this great, great tribulation, using similar language, but linked to a time, times, and a dividing of times, when the holy people, the children of God, would be dealt with terribly.

And also in Daniel 7, 25, where it speaks of the little horn, and the little horn would continue for, again, that period of time.

But In the New Testament, the same period of time is mentioned 5 times in 1 shape or form or the other.

I think it is in Revelation 13 where it speaks of the seven-headed, ten-horned beast, the seven-headed, ten-horned beast, the sea beast, the papal beast, will continue for 42 months, oppressing of course again the people, the saints of the Most High.

And it is mentioned elsewhere there in Revelation.

What is interesting about this time prophecy, Which is important for the second coming because the second coming must take place after the 1260 days.

That it is given in days, 1260 days, in months, 42 months, in years, 3 and a half years.

We say that these are year days where every day stands for a year.

There was a libera, Francisco Libera, a Jesuit priest there in about 1590.

And he said, well, the Antichrist is still coming in the future.

Now the Protestants were saying up to that time, oh the papacy is the Antichrist.

Three Angels Flying in the Midst of Heaven

I'm very happy to be here again and I want to tell you about a peculiar thing that Gus said to me.

I should not speak for such a short period of time again as I did last time.

You know, yesterday I boiled it down to half an hour and he says, no, I've got to keep on for longer.

Usually the complaint is whoever is the minister is talking way too long.

It is not really a sermon, whatever you want to call it.

But Stephen Boe last night sort of preempted a little of what I was going to say, and yet he and I prepared separately from each other, not knowing what the other person would speak about.

There's something peculiar happening in some places.

There are misguided people, even misguided pastors and professors who say, don't preach about the 3 angels' messages.

There are so-called progressive Seventh-day Adventists, liberals, who don't believe all this stuff anymore.

This morning I spoke to Stephen Emcee, who unfortunately can't come.

He helped to research the material that went into my book, The Truth about 666 and the Story of the Great Apostasy.

When he heard that, he said, remember the word progressive is a favorite word of the spiritualists.

Those so-called progressive Adventists who don't want to accept that we are the remnant church or that the 3 angels' messages are what we think they are, who reject the idea of the mark of the beast being Sunday keepers.

You know, progressive Adventists, regressive Adventists, I would say, a danger.

3 angels flying in the midst of heaven, Let's see about them.

Seventh-day Adventists have a four-fold relationship to the 3 angels' messages.

Second, we came into existence as a result of the prophecy of the 3 angels.

To begin with, there were the Millerites before us, and they preached, fear God and give glory to him for the hour of his judgment has come.

But Miller was right about the 2, 300 days representing years.

He was, however, wrong about the nature of the event, about the judgment.

You know, those people thought that this world was the sanctuary of God and that this world would be cleansed.

Well, it so happens There is a sanctuary and there is a judgment, but it's not on this earth.

The Millerites were absolutely crushed when Jesus didn't come on October 22nd, 1844.

So most of them gave up in 1 way or the other, but a small group, a remnant, a remainder, persevered.

And they found out, but yes, the judgment was real.

And then they also discovered the Sabbath, but the judgment, the investigative judgment would take place before the Lord's return.

And so we can say that the Seventh-day Administered Church is a result of this message, specifically of the sanctuary message, including the discovery of the Sabbath.

Third, the Good Book specifically identifies us by saying, Here are those who keep the commandments of God in the faith of Jesus.

And in a parallel passage back at the end of Revelation 12, it says that the dragon was enraged with a woman and he went to make war with a remnant of her seed, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus.

And another scripture says the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

So this would be a group of people who have the gift of prophecy, but they would be keeping the commandments of God, all the commandments of God, including the Sabbath commandment, and have the faith of Jesus.

There is no other church in the world that can claim all of that.

So there are 3 links that we have for this message.

But fourthly, the passage that comes at the end of Revelation 12, which speaks of the woman fleeing from Satan, the great dragon, would be nourished for 1260 day years.

And so this would be there at the end of the 1260 years, stretching from 538 to 1798, and this ties it up with historicism.

So we are tied in many ways, and I've mentioned 4.

Perhaps some clever person will discover some other links.

But in 4 ways, we are linked to the 3 angels' messages.

The first angel's message, as we observe it, says, then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth, to every nation, tribe, tongue and people, saying with a great voice, Fear God and give glory to him, for the hour of his judgment has come, and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.

And you find all of this, of course, there in Revelation 14.

But now, first, what is the everlasting gospel?

It's the good news of Jesus Christ who died for us, was resurrected for us, who intercedes for us so that we will be saved.

The good news of John 3.16, you know, whosoever believes on him will have eternal life.

Now the Millerites to some extent proclaim that.

Did you know that these presentations by William Miller and others were great occasions of revival?

To prepare for the coming of Christ, they had to get ready.

And this ties up with the Great Commission.

You remember what Jesus said just before he went up to heaven?

That the disciples had to preach the gospel throughout the whole world.

But he also said, baptize them and teach them Everything that I have commanded you, everything.

Jesus was a Sabbath keeper, so were the apostles.

So although they proclaimed the everlasting gospel, it was an incomplete version of it.

Therefore preaching the first angel's message for seventh-day Adventists means something more complete than what the Millerites were saying.

We must look at these messages not only from the point of view of what was going on then in the 19th century, but what is going on now in the 21st century.

So this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations and the end will come, the end will come, the Lord said.

Now, so all things have to be observed, but that would also be keeping of the commandments of God, all the commandments of God.

Now let's see whether the seventh day features at all in the book of Revelation.

Well it must because everybody had to worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water." Now those words remind us of words in Genesis of what the Lord had made, But specifically also in the fourth commandment, God had made everything, heaven and earth and sea and everything.

These words call attention to the creator God, who made the earth in 6 days, who worked and rested on the seventh day and Made it holy.

Made it holy right there in the beginning.

And therefore, also in the 10 Commandments.

And furthermore, we are told specifically through an identification about the commandment keepers.

Now the hour of his judgment, The hour of his judgment had come.

But there's another place in Revelation where he speaks of this.

We find this In Revelation 11, where it says, Then the seventh angel sounded, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.

And the 24 elders who sat before the throne of God, on their thrones, fill on their faces and worship God.

They thanked God and then they say, the nations were angry and your wrath has come.

And the time of the dead, that they should be judged.

And that you should reward your servants, the prophets and the saints, and those who fear your name, small and great, and should destroy those who destroy the earth." People have been messing around with the earth from the beginning, And God does not like that.

But then the temple of God was opened in heaven.

Now I want to call your attention to this specifically in Revelation 11, the end, yeah the end.

Then the temple of God was opened in heaven and the ark of his testament, of his covenant it says here, was seen in his temple.

The word covenant and the word testament in the New Testament are the same word, the Greek word.

They were lightnings, noises, thunders, and earthquakes, and great hail.

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Three Angels Flying in the Midst of Heaven

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