“And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to Him for the hour of His judgment is come: and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters” (Revelation 14:6,7).

In harmony with other visions where angels are represented as proclaiming a message from God, we interpret this symbolic angel to represent a company of the Lord’s consecrated. It would therefore seem to point to an organized movement. The angel’s flying in the midst of heaven would represent a very conspicuous movement in the religious world. That the message was a truthful one is indicated in its being called the “everlasting Gospel.” In other words it was the true Gospel. That this message of the true Gospel was to be preached to all who dwelt upon the earth, is explained in the words that follow to mean, “to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people” — signifying nothing less than a world-wide message. A “voice” represents a human agency, either one or many; in this case, it seemingly represents many.

One of the very significant features of this vision, and one which without other assistance should enable us to discover the time when it will meet its fulfillment is that this proclamation of the everlasting Gospel is made contemporaneous with the announcement of the Judgment Day; thus indicating their close relation. We conclude therefore, that the vision could not be fulfilled until a full knowledge of what is comprehended in the Glad Tidings had been made known to those engaged in this movement. This full, clear knowledge was not realized until very modern times. No expositor previous to the middle of the Nineteenth Century ever thought of associating the great Judgment Day as the Scriptures do with the proclamation of the Gospel, the Glad Tidings. The Glad Tidings of great joy, which in God’s due time is to be realized by all people, had been, because of apostasy, utterly lost sight of until in the closing years of the Nineteenth Century, when it was in a very special way restored to the true Church. Careful attention to this enables us not only to locate the period when this vision had its fulfillment — beginning some time toward the close of the Nineteenth Century, but also enables us to recognize the fulfillment as being contemporaneous with that of the vision last considered — the Lamb standing on Mount Zion.

Many expositors, among them those whom we have frequently referred to in the previous chapters, have applied this vision to the great Reformation Movement of the Sixteenth Century; others to that of the great world-wide foreign missionary movement which occurred in the opening and middle years of the Nineteenth Century. Adventist expositors have quite generally applied this vision, as also that of the preceding one, to the Second Advent movement under William Miller, which culminated in the disappointment of Mr. Miller and his associates in 1844. In none of these movements, however, was there a clear, full understanding of the Gospel; neither was the judgment day of the world looked upon by any of these expositors as being good news for unconverted humanity who had died; on the contrary it was proclaimed as bad news for such. The true character of the Judgment Day was not fully understood by those who engaged in any of these movements; indeed it was not understood until clear views concerning the manner of the Second Advent began to be seen.

We conclude therefore that this angel flying in the midst of heaven having the everlasting Gospel to preach, etc., must represent in its beginning features at least, a very unique movement among the living saints of the harvest period, and that it is, to a large extent, a matter of history. Up to the closing years of the last century the truth respecting the full Gospel had been so perverted and beclouded by the errors of the creeds, both of Romanism and Protestantism, that a clear knowledge of the same which would be required to fulfill the vision, did not exist in either of these great nominal Christian bodies, neither among those associated in the Miller movement.

The proclamation of this symbolic angel was that “the hour of His judgment is come.” In a sense it had already begun, because this Judgment Day must first begin at the house of God, and this, not only in the true spiritual house, but in the nominal spiritual house as well. It would signify, as we shall endeavor to show when considering the visions that follow in this chapter, that the time had come to prepare the way for the realization by all mankind of the blessed things referred to in the Glad Tidings, the true Gospel, the one preached by Jehovah to Abraham — “in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” This preparation for a realization of these blessings by the world would of necessity include the destruction of the enemies of truth — the false religious systems. The matters described in the “voice of many waters,” and the “song” of the hundred and forty-four thousand (Revelation 14:2,3), refer more especially to the unfolding of the true Gospel to the Lord’s consecrated who would engage in this movement; on the other hand, the message of the symbolic angel of the vision we are now considering refers to a public proclamation given by the Lord’s consecrated after they had received a knowledge themselves. Before such a public ministration could be engaged in, it would be necessary that the “new song” be well learned and appreciated. The message given to the public, as is well known by all who engage in the service, emphasizes chiefly that the Glad Tidings when rightly understood is that the Day of Judgment is at hand, and that this Judgment Day is the one so frequently referred to by the Prophets as a judgment that eventually will cause great rejoicing.

Coming Judgment Day, Good Tidings for All

With what rapture is this Gospel of the Judgment Day portrayed by one of God’s holy Prophets of old:

“O sing unto the Lord a new song:
Sing unto the Lord, all the earth.
Sing unto the Lord, bless His name;
Show forth His salvation from day to day.
Declare His glory among the nations,
His wonders among all the people.

O sing unto the Lord a new song;
For He hath done marvelous things:
His right hand, and His holy arm, hath gotten Him the victory.
The Lord hath made known His salvation:
His righteousness hath He openly showed in the sight of the nations.

He hath remembered His mercy and His truth toward the house of Israel:
All the ends of the earth hath seen the salvation of our God.

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth:
Make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise.
Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof;
The world, and they that dwell therein.
Let the floods clap their hands:
Let the hills be joyful together

Before the Lord; for He cometh to judge the earth:
With righteousness shall He judge the world,
And the people with equity” (Psalms 96 and 98).

It is a message that is designed to cause men to fear God — not with that slavish fear that the creeds of Christendom inculcate, but rather with that reverential fear that regards Him with the supreme awe that is due Him because of His infinite greatness, His infinite mercy, His infinite love. It is designed to cause men to have a true conception of God’s character and attributes and thus give Him glory. The beneficial effects produced in the minds of many in the world by this public witnessing to the Truth, can be seen in the present time only in a very small measure. Enough is revealed, however, to show that many, not necessarily consecrated ones, are being blessed and comforted and caused to have a new, a better, a truer conception of the great God, as seen in His Plan for all His creatures. Many of this class have been delivered from the fears that the erroneous creeds of Christendom engendered, particularly the fear of eternal torment. And we may truthfully say that this work is not yet entirely completed; it is still going on. Indeed, the sorrow and suffering incidental to the great war have prepared and mellowed some hearts to appreciate the message and thus bring comfort to some who mourn. This feature of the work has been, and is preparing the way, so that when the great predicted troubles fully come, a much larger number of humanity will then be glad to read the messages that at the present time lay quietly enclosed in volumes that are stored away, possibly never having been opened prior to this.

This symbolic angel-movement is a proclamation of the glorious times of restitution which are described by all God’s holy prophets. It is one of the last messages given to the Church in the flesh to declare before her change to glory. This proclamation is going on. It is being given when the world is experiencing trouble, disaster, and threatened collapse on every hand.

The visions that succeed this one, which we next consider, show that other proclamations, messages that meet their fulfillment before these blessings can come to the world, are to be given by the same class. Indeed, the events of the present time all point to the fact that we are near the crisis in human affairs that will fulfill succeeding visions of judgment, which, however, will be followed quickly by the ushering in of the new order of things. These startling events that are now transpiring, so descriptive of judgment investigations, are to the faithful Watchers sure premonitions, harbingers of the dawn of the Millennial Morning. In this connection the following words are found to be fraught with solemn instruction and significance:

“Many even who are not of the Watchers are noting the signs of our times and are startled, and led to exclaim, What do these things mean? — This remarkable latter-day advance in science, art, and mechanical invention? — This latter-day discontent in the midst of plenty and luxury? — This latter-day growth of millionaires and paupers? — This growth of giant corporations of world-wide power and influence? — Why are national policies and public men and their utterances and doings criticized (judged) by the masses as never before? — And what means it that with an apparent growth in wealth and numbers in all denominations of Christians there is a growing dissatisfaction, discontent in them all: a growing tendency to criticize the creeds and the preaching and everything? …

“The Scriptural answer is, The hour of God’s judgment is come; the time when ‘Christendom,’ political, financial, social, and ecclesiastical, is being judged — being tried in the Divine balances. And the Scriptures declare that she will be found wanting, and will be adjudged unworthy to further administer the affairs of earth, which will be turned over to the elect ‘little flock,’ according to the Divine promise (Luke 12:32).

“The secret of the matter now is the same as in the Jewish ‘harvest,’ when John explained, saying, ‘There standeth one among you whom you know not’ (John 1:26).”

It will have been noted that in our expositions of these two visions recorded in chapter 14:1-5, 6, 7, we do not find that the fulfillment of the one succeeds the other in point of time, but rather that they occur contemporaneously; that is, we find that the voice St. John heard, “as the voice of many waters,” and “as the voice of harpers harping with their harps,” together with the “new song” sung by the hundred and forty-four thousand, refers to the glorious revelations of present Truth given to God’s saints, while the angel flying in mid-heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach, etc., refers to a general proclamation of the true Gospel throughout Christendom by the Lord’s saints; and we understand that both of these have been having their fulfillment contemporaneously for some years past. It will be necessary to call attention to this point further as we consider succeeding visions. These two visions will not be completely fulfilled until all the elect class have been sealed, which we believe will be indicated by the ushering in of the dark night that precedes the full dawning of the Millennial Day (John 9:4). The “loud voice” of the flying angel will doubtless decrease in volume; indeed, the Lord has permitted the development of conditions and circumstances that have lessened the volume of tone to a very large extent. These incidents are doubtless providential, and are having only the designed effect of proving who have and who have not learned the “new song” — who appreciate and who do not appreciate the glorious message of present Truth so as to cause them to “hope perfectly for the gift that is to be given them at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:13, Diaglott). Let us learn to distinguish the grand and perfect harmony of this new song from the many confusing and discordant voices that are being heard throughout Christendom today!

It will be of interest to the reader in this connection to note the comment of Mr. Barnes given in 1850 on this vision. Though not possessing a clear knowledge of all the features of the Divine Plan (the full Truth not then being due), his exposition shows remarkable spiritual discernment:

“The Gospel is here called everlasting or eternal, (a) because its great truths have always existed, or it is conformed to eternal truth; (b) because it will for ever remain unchanged — not being liable to fluctuation like the opinions held by men; (c) because its effects will be everlasting — in the redemption of the soul and the joys of heaven. In all the glorious eternity before the redeemed, they will be but developing the effects of that Gospel on their own hearts, and enjoying the results of it in the presence of God. …

“When that time will be, the writer [St. John] does not intimate farther than that it would be after the beast and his adherents had attempted to stay its progress; and for the fulfillment of this, therefore, we are to look to a period subsequent to the rise and fall [from favor] of that great anti-Christian power symbolized by the beast and his image. The main idea is, that when God shall be about to cause His Gospel to spread through the world, there will be, as it were, a solemn judgment on that anti-Christian power which had so long resisted His Truth and persecuted His saints, and that on the fall of that power His own Kingdom will be set up on the earth; that is, in the language of Daniel, ‘the Kingdom, and the dominion, and the greatness of the Kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High’ ” (Daniel 7).

The Second Angel’s Message

“And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication” (verse 8).

This second angel and his message we understand refer to another movement of the saints of the “harvest” period, beginning a little later, but continuing contemporaneously with the one just considered. It is, therefore, like the preceding one, largely a matter of history, but its fulfillment is not yet complete; and like the other, it will continue in a measure until the “dark night” sets in, when all such testimony will, because of the conditions then existing, have to cease. On this point, Mr. Barnes observed: “It is not necessary to suppose that this [vision] would, in the fulfillment, succeed the other [the vision preceding] in time. The chapter is made up of a number of representations, all designed to illustrate the same general thing, and to produce the same general effect on the mind — that the Gospel would be finally triumphant, and that, therefore, the hearts of the troubled and afflicted [of God’s people] should be comforted. The representation in this verse, bearing on this point, is that Babylon, the great enemy [of the true Church], would fall to rise no more.”

It is of no little significance that we have in this vision for the first time in the Revelation the word Babylon mentioned. The ancient empire of Babylon and its capital city, located on the great river Euphrates, had long before St. John’s day ceased to exist. That both the city and the empire are employed as symbols in this and several subsequent visions, all Historical expositors are agreed. Mr. Barnes expresses the general thought of expositors concerning its significance, as follows:

“In reference to the meaning of the word [Babylon] in this place, it may be remarked (1) that the general characteristics of [literal] Babylon were that it was proud, haughty, insolent, oppressive. It was chiefly known and remembered by the Hebrew people as a power that had invaded the holy land; that had reduced its capital and temple to ruins; that had destroyed the independence of their country, subjecting it to the condition of a province, and that had carried away the inhabitants into a long and painful captivity. It became, therefore, the emblem of all that was haughty and oppressive, and especially of all that persecuted the Church of God. (2) The word must be used here to denote some power that resembled the ancient and literal Babylon in these characteristics. … We are to seek, therefore, in the application of this, for some power that had the same general characteristics which the literal Babylon had. (3) … All the circumstances require us to understand this of Rome — at some period of its history — for Rome, like Babylon, was the seat of empire, and the head of the heathen world; Rome was characterized by many of the same attributes as Babylon, being arrogant, proud, oppressive; Rome, like Babylon, was distinguished for its conquests, and for the fact that it made all other nations subject to its control; Rome had been, like Babylon of old, a desolating power, having destroyed the capital of the holy land, and burnt its beautiful temple, and reduced the country to a province. Rome, like Babylon of old, was the most formidable power with which the Church had to contend. Yet it is not, I suppose, Rome considered as Pagan that is here meant — but Rome considered as the prolongation of the ancient power in the Papal form.”

This interpretation of symbolic Babylon very well represents the consensus of opinion of all expositors who lived previous to the middle of the Nineteenth Century. Mr. Guinness in his able work, The Approaching End of the Age, has given a more exhaustive exposition of symbolic Babylon than those who preceded him, and it is a treatise well worthy of consideration by all Bible students. The much clearer understanding of the true Gospel, together with an unfolding of certain events connected with the decline of Protestantism, enables one to have a better, a much clearer conception of this Babylon symbol, than that held by the earlier expositors. Concerning this subject another has written:

“It has been very generally and very properly claimed by Protestants that the name ‘Babylon’ and the prophetic description are applicable to Papacy, though recently a more compromising disposition is less inclined so to apply it. On the contrary, every effort is now made on the part of the sects of Protestantism to conciliate and imitate the Church of Rome, and to affiliate and cooperate with her. In so doing they become part and parcel with her, while they justify her course and fill up the measure of her iniquities, just as surely as did the Scribes and Pharisees fill up the measure of their fathers who killed the Prophets (Matthew 23:31,32)” (C. T. Russell).

After describing typical Babylon, empire and city, this expositor in the same connection gives a brief but comprehensive unfolding of this symbol:

“Such was the typical city; and, like a great millstone cast into the sea, it was sunken centuries ago, never again to rise: even the memory of it has become a reproach and a byword. Now let us look for its antitype, first observing that the Scriptures clearly point it out, and then noting the aptness of the symbolism.

“In symbolic prophecy a ‘city’ signifies a religious government backed by power and influence. Thus, for instance, the ‘holy city, the new Jerusalem,’ is the symbol used to represent the established Kingdom of God, the overcomers of the Gospel Church exalted and reigning in glory. The Church is also, and in the same connection, represented as a woman, ‘the Bride, the Lamb’s Wife,’ in power and glory, and backed by the power and authority of Christ, her husband. ‘And there came unto me one of the seven angels saying, Come hither, I will show thee the Bride, the Lamb’s Wife. And he showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem’ (Revelation 21:9,10).

“This same method of interpretation applies to mystical Babylon, the great ecclesiastical kingdom, ‘that great city’ (Revelation 17:1-6), which is described as a harlot, a fallen woman (an apostate church; for the true Church is a virgin), exalted to power and dominion, and backed, to a considerable degree, by the kings of the earth, the civil powers, which are all more or less intoxicated with her spirit and doctrine. The apostate Church lost her virgin purity. Instead of waiting, as an espoused and chaste virgin, for exaltation with the Heavenly Bridegroom, she associated herself with the kings of the earth and prostituted her virgin purity — both of doctrine and character — to suit the world’s ideas; and in return she received, and now to some extent exercises, a present dominion, in large measure by their support, direct and indirect. This unfaithfulness to the Lord, whose name she claims, and to her high privilege to be the ‘chaste virgin’ espoused to Christ, is the occasion of the symbolic appellation, ‘harlot,’ while her influence as a sacerdotal empire, full of inconsistency and confusion, is symbolically represented under the name Babylon, which, in its widest sense, as symbolized by the Babylonian Empire, we promptly recognize to be Christendom; while in its more restricted sense, as symbolized by the ancient city Babylon, we recognize to be the nominal Christian Church.”

This same writer, further enlarging on the significance of symbolical Babylon, goes on to say that many sincere Christians had not, at the time he wrote these words, become sufficiently awake to the decline of Protestantism to discern the relationship existing between the various sects of this latter system and that of Papacy. He informs us of a fact seen by a considerable number of students of Scripture today, that Protestant Churches no longer have the spirit of the Reformation:

“Protestantism, as it exists today, is not the result of the Great Reformation, but of its decline; and it now partakes to a large degree of the disposition and character of the Church of Rome, from which its various branches sprang. The various Protestant sects (and we say it with all due deference to a comparatively few devout souls within them, whom the Lord designates as ‘wheat,’ in contradistinction to the overwhelming numbers of ‘tares’) are the true daughters of that degenerate system of nominal Christianity, the Papacy, to which the Revelator makes reference in applying to her the name ‘Mother of Harlots.’ (Revelation 17:5). And let it not pass unobserved that both Romanists and Protestants now freely own the relationship of mother and daughters, the former continually styling herself the Holy Mother Church, and the latter, with pleased complacency, endorsing the idea, as shown by many public utterances of leading Protestant clergymen and laymen.

“But let us see how the Protestant systems sustain this relationship of daughters to Papacy. Since Papacy, the mother, is not a single individual, but a great religious system, in keeping with the symbol we should expect to see other religious systems answering to the illustration of daughters of similar character — not, of course, so old, nor necessarily so depraved, as Papacy — but, nevertheless, ‘harlots’ in the same sense; i.e. religious systems claiming to be either the espoused virgin or the Bride of Christ, and yet courting the favor and receiving the support of the world, at the price of disloyalty to Christ.

“To this description the various Protestant organizations fully correspond. They are the great daughter systems.

“The birth of these various daughter systems came in connection with reforms from the corruptions of the mother Church. The daughter systems parted from the mother under circumstances of travail, and were born virgins. However, they contained more than true reformers; they contained many who still had the spirit of the mother, and they inherited many of her false doctrines and theories; and it was not long until they fell into many of her bad practices and proved their characters true to the prophetic stigma — ‘harlots.’

“But let it not be forgotten that while the various reformation movements did valuable work in the ‘cleansing of the sanctuary,’ yet only the temple class, the sanctuary class, has ever been the true Church, in God’s reckoning. The great human systems, called churches, have never been more than nominally the Church.”

“Come Out of Her My People”

With what solemn meaning indeed do the words of this writer come home to the Lord’s people in these closing days. The reader should bear well in mind that the particular characteristics of the decline of this great Reformation Movement described in the above quotation — ending in later times in the formation of the daughter sects — are, in these closing days finally, and for the last time we trust, repeated again in our very midst — in the midst of that body of people who have professed to represent a cleansed sanctuary, free from the spirit of Babylon. Alas that so many have overlooked the fact that it is as individuals that we are called to membership in the Bride of Christ, and our identity as members of a human system or organization counts for nothing in the eyes of the Great Head of the Church. We need as individual Christians more than ever to keep in mind the various peculiarities of the spirit of Babylon, for it is its spirit, even more than its letter, that is to be overcome.

It is a well established fact that a few of the eminent godly men who had not come to see clearly all that is embraced in the full everlasting Gospel before they finished their service in death, nevertheless saw, and to a large extent engaged in the work of this symbolic angel in declaring the fall (from favor) of Protestantism, and associated it with Papacy as about to receive her final doom. Let the reader note the clear statement of Mr. Guinness in this connection, speaking of Papacy’s failure to give heed to the judgments that have been sent on her:

“Rome has proved herself irreformable and deserving of the dreadful doom so long decreed against her. … And when we turn our eyes to the reformed Protestant churches of Germany, Denmark, Sweden, and England, what do we behold? The power of godliness to a greater extent, a purer creed, an open Bible, an educated people, a general respect for the things of God, and some vital godliness, some faith. But even here how much of covert or open infidelity, what rationalism, what skepticism, what ‘broad church’ views, what oppositions of science falsely so-called! What worldliness, what national sins, what confusion and strife in the church, what loathsome vice and ungodliness in the world! National churches honeycombed with infidelity, even when not relapsing back to Popery under another name, and Non-conformist churches fast admitting the same deadly leaven. Where can we find a Christianity worthy of Christ? Where a church, like a chaste virgin, fit to be his Bride?

“The Christian Church as a witness for God in the world has failed, like the Jewish nation, and become apostate. There is a little flock, there is a true Church, but its members are scattered abroad and almost invisible in the great Babylon; they are the seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal, they are the called and chosen and faithful who follow the Lamb, they are those who have turned to God from idols, to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven; they are those who have not the form only, but the power of godliness, those who keep themselves unspotted from the world, and overcome through faith. They are found in every section of the professing Church, and the Lord knoweth those that are His — ‘They shall be mine saith the Lord of Hosts, in the day when I make up My Jewels.’

“But for the rest — for the vast professing body which bears the name of Christ, it has not continued in the goodness of God, it has turned His grace into licentiousness, its sentence has gone forth, it must be ‘cut off.’ … The professing Church has long been unworthy of the sacred name it bears. Instead of being the instrument of spreading the truth of the Gospel among men, it is the worst hindrance to their attaining that knowledge of God, and of Jesus Christ whom He has sent, in which life eternal lies; like the Pharisees of old, it stands as the great obstruction, neither entering itself into the Kingdom, nor suffering those who would to enter in. The church is confounded with the world, and the true saints are strangers in its society; it is no longer the pillar and ground of the truth, it is the hotbed of heresy, false doctrine, and corruption of every kind. An end must come to all this! Not only does the Word of God predict it, not only does our own sense of righteousness demand it, but the solemn analogies of history distinctly intimate it. Let the undeniable fact that past apostasies brought down the judgment they deserved, forewarn men what must be the end of the existing apostasy of the professing people of God. Babylon must fall! Great Babylon must come in remembrance before God, who will give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath, for her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities! The testimony of the Apocalypse is full and fearful as to the doom that is now impending over Christendom.”

The above words were written in 1880, and were quoted by Mr. Russell in his monthly journal in December of that year. A. J. Gordon in 1889 utters a no less solemn warning:

“Every age has ended in judgment, and so shall the present dispensation close. As apostate Judaism met its doom in the destruction of Jerusalem, so apostate Christendom expiates its sentence in the overthrow of mystical Babylon. This destruction will fall, we believe, [first] upon the literal city of seven hills, as the visible center and capital of the apostasy. What other systems beside the Papal may be involved in the judgment is a most solemn question to be pondered. It is plainly intimated that the mother has daughters, and therefore that Babylon the Great has outlying suburbs which are in fellowship with her. Let him that readeth understand.”

Mr. Lord looked for the fulfillment of this vision in the future of his day (1846). He saw very clearly, as will be observed in the quotation below, the failure of the Reformation in the formation of the Protestant sects, and that those who in any measure united with or received support by the civil powers, were part and parcel of Babylon. In this connection his words which we quote are very significant:

“The Protestant churches [sects] so far from going out of great Babylon, continued in her community by still acting on her [the mother’s] principles, arrogating the same dominion over the laws of God, and uniting in the same manner with the civil powers in imposing their creeds and rites on others, and persecuting dissentients. The Protestant nationalized churches, therefore, great as was the sum of her [the mother’s] false doctrines which they rejected, inasmuch as they thus imitated her, in an arrogation of the throne of God, and elevation of their authority above His rights and will, still continued to belong to great Babylon, and if they subsist at that time [the time of judgment described in the vision], are to share in her fall.”

The fulfillment of this vision recorded in Revelation 14:8, as we have before seen, is simply that of an announcement, a proclamation of Babylon’s fall, that is her fall from favor. This announcement has been having its fulfillment for many years. Her fall (destruction) is portrayed in chapter 18. Mr. Russell has frequently in his writings given this as his understanding of the meaning of this vision. In 1900 he said:

“More evident does it become, daily, that our Lord’s declaration, ‘Babylon is fallen!’ does not signify the outward collapse of ‘Churchianity’; but that nominal ‘Christendom’ has fallen from Divine favor; just as the fall of national Judaism from Divine favor, at the rejection and crucifixion of Messiah at his first presence, meant not the collapse at the moment of that religio-political system. … The collapse will be sudden and awful when it does come; and while only the few realize the fallen-from-grace condition of Babylon in the present, none will be ignorant of her collapse when it comes.

“But when we say that nearly all will fall — ‘a thousand shall fall at thy side’ — we do not mean that they will all fall into open immorality; nor that they will abandon church organizations, nor that the fallen ones will even know that they have fallen. On the contrary, the fallen ones as usual will think that they are rising higher and higher — getting rid of error, etc. They will be thoroughly blind to the fact that with the errors and superstitions they are getting rid also of the truths and the faith which alone constituted them Christians in God’s sight. This is the sense in which Babylon is falling and hence God’s call, ‘Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues’ (Revelation 18:4).”

The next clause in the vision gives a reason why Babylon has utterly fallen from favor, become apostate, rejected. It is because she “has given all the nations to drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.” This statement expressed in different forms is found several times in the subsequent visions. In chapter 17, the woman upon whose forehead the name Babylon is written, holds in her hand a golden cup, full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication (verse 4); and St. John was told that the “inhabitants of the earth had been made drunk with the wine of her fornication” (verse 2). Again, St. John saw the woman, the mother of harlots, “drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus” (verse 6). Briefly stated, the meaning of the expression in the vision we are considering is that the great harlot, the mother system, had at the time the vision meets its fulfillment, succeeded in causing so-called Christendom to drink and become stupefied with false religious doctrines and was on this account ripe for judgment. The Reformation Movement exposed to view some of these false doctrines, and caused many to see the apostate mother system in its true light. The failure of the Reformation Movement, by the formation of sects, gradually brought in the present apostate condition. Those represented in this movement by the angel crying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon,” are those who in the last half century have been proclaiming this fact. The expression “the wine of the wrath of God,” is interpreted in two ways. As given by some: “The meaning here is, that the nations had drunk of that cup which brought on the wrath of God on account of her ‘fornication.’ … The word ‘fornication’ here is used to denote spiritual uncleanness; that is, heathen and superstitious rites and observances. The term is often used in the Scriptures as applicable to idolatry and superstition.”

Others interpret the expression as meaning that these false doctrines made the nations to become infuriated, causing them to carry out the mother system’s cruel decrees against those who opposed her abominations. Mr. Russell comments on this expression:

“In horror and wonder we ask ourselves, Why did kings, and princes, and emperors, and the people at large, permit such atrocities? Why did they not arise long ago and smite down Antichrist? The answer is found in the Scriptures (Revelation 18:3): The nations were drunk (stupefied), they lost their senses in drinking the mixed wine (doctrine, false and true mixed) given them by the apostate Church. They were deceived by the claims of Papacy.”

Will the indirect enlightening influences of the Truth ever again become so obscured as to cause another, although brief manifestation of this symbolical drunkenness to act against the Truth?

The Third Angel’s Message

“And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb: and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus” (Revelation 14:9-12).

The vision of this third angel and the message of solemn warning proclaimed by him, undoubtedly represents another phase of the special movement among the Lord’s consecrated ones in the harvest period or closing of the age. The proclamation that the saints are represented in the vision as giving implies that they have obtained the knowledge that all the various phases of the anti-Christian systems embodied in the term Babylon, have fallen — been rejected and cast off from God’s favor, and that their destruction is close at hand. In 1881 Mr. Russell explained this vision as at that time beginning to meet its fulfillment:

“The third [angel’s] message (verses 9-11) concerning the worshipers of the beast and his image — showing the nominal Church in the colors in which the Word of God paints it, pointing out how all who remain in her either in spirit or name, in opposition to the Word of God, saying, ‘Come out of her,’ will be subject to torment and vexation so long as they are worshipping creeds and doctrines and organizations of men. The remembrance of which distress (smoke of torment) will never be forgotten.”

Concerning this vision of the third angel and his message, as also the two preceding, this same writer said: “All three of these messages yet continue, and will doubtless continue to be repeated by others so long as they contain truth due to the Lord’s children.”

The history of the last forty years has to many minds confirmed these utterances. The Lord has continued to give increased knowledge on this and other visions, and now it is beginning to be seen and made known that the fulfillment of this third angel’s message will involve more significant matters pertaining to the last testimony of the Lord’s consecrated. Later writings of this author show that its complete fulfillment could not take place until the image of the beast (Confederated Protestantism) had received its life (authority) — indeed, not until the great predicted federation of Christendom had become an accomplished fact, and the great triple-alliance would feel compelled to act, to hold back the rising tide of insubordination to governmental authority, lawlessness, that has long threatened.

The complete fulfillment of the vision is therefore in the future — the near future, it would seem. It appears to describe the final testimony of the last of the Lord’s faithful followers. Keeping in mind the predicted usurpation of Divine power that will be exercised by this last great federation of Christendom, as described in the vision of the image of the beast (Revelation 13:15-18), will enable us to see that certain seemingly necessary laws will be enacted which will so conflict with the Christian’s duties and obligations to the great Head of the Church as to make obedience to their laws impossible for conscientious Christians. In other words, to be obedient to the “powers that be” at that time will require on the part of true loyal Christians a violation of conscience before God. The vision of this third angel and his message, therefore, would seem to require a more conspicuous movement than as yet has taken place — a movement involving a testimony against this last anti-Christian federation, and a very conspicuous exhortation to fellow-Christians to keep themselves separate and free from it. As Mr. Lord has expressed:

“The great principles on which the pure and apostate Church proceed are … to be brought into the most open and violent antagonism; the worshipers of God are to give the most public and perfect demonstration of the truth and inflexibleness of their allegiance, by resigning their lives, rather than apostatize; and the anti-Christian powers and their vassals are to give the most resistless proof of their deliberate and incorrigible apostasy by continuing their rebellion amidst threatenings of avenging judgments.”

It is only by discovering what the Scriptural requirements and obligations of the Christian are to the “powers that be,” that will enable him to understand what, and what alone, could possibly be involved in this exercise of authority on the part of this great federation that could cause Christians to be brought into such trying conditions. It is quite certain that nothing of this nature has yet occurred in this harvest period. It becomes therefore a matter of the utmost importance that the true followers of Christ should know, understand, what are their duties and obligations to worldly governments, good or evil. Speaking of the Christian’s attitude and duty to the world-powers under conditions and circumstances of this character, one has thus expressed what seems to sum up very clearly the Scripture teaching in this respect:

“The Prophets declare that because of the increase of knowledge a still more general and widespread dissatisfaction will finally express itself in a world-wide revolution, in the overthrow of all law and order … but that in the midst of this confusion the God of heaven will set up His Kingdom, which will satisfy the desires of all nations. …

“Knowing this to be the purpose of God, neither Jesus nor the Apostles interfered with earthly rulers in any way. On the contrary, they taught the Church to submit to these powers, even though they often suffered under their abuse of power. They taught the Church to obey the laws, and to respect those in authority because of their office, even if they were not personally worthy of esteem; to pay their appointed taxes, and, except where they conflicted with God’s laws (Acts 4:19, 5:29), to offer no resistance to any established law (Romans 13:1-7, Matthew 22:21). The Lord Jesus and the Apostles and the early Church were all law-abiding, though they were separate from, and took no share in, the governments of this world.”

“Christians should recognize the true character of these kingdoms, and, while they keep separate from them, should render to them due respect and obedience, because God has permitted them to rule. As Paul teaches, ‘Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers; for there is no power but of God’ (Romans 13:1).”

“The true Christian … realizes that under Divine providence he is not to expect his rights in the present time, nor to strive for them; but that, on the contrary, he sacrifices them to the will of God — to the doing of the Lord’s will so far as he may have opportunity, and to the having of the Lord’s will done in him according to the Lord’s wisdom and providence. If oppressed and dealt with unjustly, he will look to the Lord for deliverance, and whatever way it shall come will accept it as of Divine arrangement; and whatever God does not provide in the way of deliverance along reasonable and just lines he will accept as the rulings of His providence, and render to the Lord thanks for His watch-care and seek to learn the lessons of patience and experience and longsuffering, which these trials may inculcate; recognizing in such a case that these trials, from whomsoever they come, are permitted of the Lord if not ordered by Him, and intended for his welfare and spiritual development.”

“It is our business to render obedience to the laws, customs, usages, of this world, in so far as these do not infringe upon our conscientious obligations to the Lord and the Truth. The commands of the judge or court are to be obeyed — whatever others might be disposed to do, Christians are never to be found in contempt of court, but are to obey its rules to the very letter, whether they consider them just or unjust, because the judge is the representative of the law, and God permits the law and the judge, and commands us to be subject to whatever He permits. If, therefore, as our Lord explained, some one shall sue us at the law, and take away our coat, or if it include our cloak also, all that we had, we are not to resist; we are to be obedient to the powers that be. This does not mean, however, that we shall willingly submit to the coat or cloak or other articles being taken from us illegally or unjustly without process of law.”

“The Apostle [Paul] declared that he was a debtor both to the Jews and to the Greeks; and looking at matters from a similar standpoint, we may say likewise, that we are under many obligations to many people. We owe a debt to the community and commonwealth in which we live for the measure of peace, order, social convenience, and advantages every way, which we, in common with others, share; we owe a debt to our nation at large in consideration of the many blessings, liberties, advantages, etc., which come to us through it by Divine providence” (C. T. Russell).

Here is the Patience of the Saints

From these clear Scriptural unfoldings of our duty and relation to the powers that be, it will be seen that this great predicted federation of civil and ecclesiastical power will in some way be moved to exercise such an arbitrary authority as to bring the enlightened Christian into a position in which the choice of obedience to God or man will be the supreme test. In the light of the foregoing this could be nothing less than a compulsory enactment to either unite with or give support to this great federation’s usurpation of God’s place in the conscience of the Christian. This is doubtless what is meant in the words of the Revelator, “Here is the patience [patient endurance] of the saints; here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus” (verse 12). It will be remembered that a similar statement to this was made in connection with the first beast’s usurpation of Divine power, causing the terrible persecutions of the Dark Ages (see Revelation 13:10). The teaching evidently is that the great trials of true Christians at that time and those who live in the last time, will require patient endurance of wrong under most trying and difficult circumstances. One writer has said, “Here the patience of the saints is sustained in a reign of terror such as never yet has been.” Mr. Barnes comments on this verse (Revelation 13:10) as it relates to the Dark Ages:

“Nowhere on earth have the patience and the faith of the saints been put to a severer test than under the Roman (Papal) persecutions. The same idea occurs in chapter 14:12.”

We give his comment on this latter verse respecting those who exercise this patience in these persecutions and trials:

“They will show that they belong to those who keep the commandments of God, and are His true children. Or, perhaps the meaning may be — ‘here is a disclosure respecting the final destiny of these persecutors, which is adapted to comfort and sustain the saints in the trials which they will endure; an encouragement to constancy in obeying the commands of God, and evincing the meek faith of the Gospel.’ ”

It will be noted that Papacy is still, at the time of this fulfillment, denominated the beast, because it still (although having lost temporal power) possesses and will then exercise all the beastly characteristics. It is so recognized because it continues to claim temporal as well as ecclesiastical authority over the hearts and consciences of men; and furthermore, it is still recognized by millions all over the world as having this authority, and these bow, even at the present time, in submission to its decrees, in both temporal and ecclesiastical matters. “Papacy,” says Mr. Guinness, “is served by an extensive sacerdotal organization, embracing about a thousand bishops and half a million of priests. This organization controls the convictions and actions of two hundred millions of persons, belonging to more than thirty nations.” Its adherents, both of clergy and laity, have increased to much larger proportions since these words were written.

Concerning the punishments described in the vision to be meted out to the worshipers of the beast and the image of the beast, the older commentators are inclined to interpret these symbols to mean eternal torment. Mr. Barnes, commenting on the expression, “the smoke of their torment shall rise up forever and ever,” said:

“This does not indeed affirm that their individual sufferings would be eternal — since it is only a declaration that the ‘smoke of their torment ascends’; but it is such language as would be used on the supposition that they would suffer forever, and as can be explained only on that supposition.”

Thank God, the true knowledge of God’s Plan enables us to see clearly the symbolical signification of these and the contextual words. A later comment on this verse, also Revelation 19:3, where the same expression is used, and others referring to the same time and same occurrences, is perfectly reasonable and harmonious with the Scripture teaching on this much misunderstood subject:

“Of Revelation 14:9-11 we remark, incidentally, that all will at once concede that if a literal worshipping of a beast and image were meant in verse 9, then few, if any, in civilized lands are liable to the penalty of verse 11; and if the beast and his image and worship and wine and cup are symbols, so also are the torments and smoke and fire and brimstone.

“Revelation 19:3, speaking of one of these systems, says: ‘Her smoke rose up forever and ever.’ That is to say, the remembrance (‘smoke’) of the destruction of these systems of deception and error will be lasting, the lesson will never be forgotten — as smoke, which continues to ascend after a destructive fire, is testimony that the fire has done its work (see also Isaiah 34:8-10).”

We conclude our consideration of this vision of the third angel and his message with the inquiry, What is meant by the expression “in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb”? (verse 10). The meaning evidently is that the judgments that will destroy the anti-Christian systems will be in the days of the presence of the Son of Man, and will be witnessed by all the holy messengers of the harvest period, some on the other side of the veil, and others, the much smaller number, on this.

“Blessed are the Dead who Die in the Lord”

“And I heard a voice from heaven, saying, Write — from this time blessed are those dead, who die in the Lord; Yes, says the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; for their works follow after them” (Revelation 14:13).

It is interesting and instructive, as confirming the principle of prophetic interpretation, namely that history unveils prophecy, to note how the earlier commentators labored to overcome the difficulties connected with the interpretation and application of this “voice from heaven.” They understood that a great blessing would come to all those who died in the Lord, but were unable to see what special blessing would come to those who died in the Lord at the time of the vision’s fulfillment. Mr. Barnes, who wrote in 1850, thus comments on the words, “from henceforth”:

“This word has given no little perplexity to expositors, and it has been variously rendered. Some have connected it with the word blessed — ‘blessed henceforth are the dead who die in the Lord’; that is, they will be ever-onward blessed; some with the word die, referring to the time when the Apostle was writing — ‘blessed are they who after this time die in the Lord,’ designing to comfort those who were exposed to death, and who would die as martyrs; some as referring to the times contemplated in these visions — ‘blessed will they be who shall die in those future times.’ Witsius understands this as meaning that from the time of their death they would be blessed, as if it had been said, immediately after their dissolution they would be blessed. Doddridge renders it, ‘henceforth blessed are the dead.’ The language is evidently not to be construed as implying that they who had died in the faith before were not happy, but that in the times of trial and persecution that were to come, they were to be regarded as peculiarly blessed who should escape from these sorrows by a Christian death.”

Mr. Barnes, in summing up his understanding of the text, fails, as we should expect, writing at that early time, before the parousia, to solve the difficulty. We quote his conclusions:

“The design, therefore, of the verse is to impart consolation and support to those who would be exposed to a martyred death, and to those who, in times of persecution, would see their friends exposed to such a death.”

Mr. Elliott offers the following: “After this a voice from heaven was heard by St. John to follow, saying, ‘Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth,’ etc. In which voice the words from henceforth blessed, or, as they may be rendered, from time near at hand, referred to, I conceive, and indicated the near approach of the grand epoch of blessedness predicated in Scripture of departed saints: I mean the blessedness of their reward and joy at Christ’s coming. Where then the distinctiveness of the vision? [Mr. Elliott means here, the distinction between those who died formerly and those at this time.] For, although doubtless another notice, just previously given, did intimate that it is to be eminently an era of trial both to the faith and the patience of Christ’s true saints, and one to show very notably whether they will keep, as their one rule of action, ‘the commands of God,’ and of doctrine, ‘the faith of Jesus,’ yet many such times of trial had been before — I cannot but add that the intimation seems to imply a settlement of the great Pre-millennial question. For how could the saints’ blessedness and reward be viewed as imminent, if a millennium of the spiritual evangelization of the world were expected to precede it?”

Mr. Lord, in his comment on these words, although brief, seems to us to approach nearer to the true interpretation:

“To die in the Lord, is to die for his sake as a witness to his truth. That their works are to follow with them, denotes, doubtless, that they are immediately to be raised from death, and as kings and priests in Christ’s Kingdom on earth, to resume their work towards the nations and exert an important instrumentality in converting them to the homage of God.”

Another commentator comes even closer, we believe, to the true interpretation. His writing is later than those already quoted:

“Faith too is sustained in another way, namely by the special consolation as to those who die as martyrs at this time: ‘And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord from henceforth.’ That is clearly encouragement under peculiar circumstances. All who die in the Lord must be blessed at any time; but that only makes it plainer that the circumstances must be exceptional now which require such comfort to be so expressly provided for them. Something must have produced a question as to the blessedness of those that die at this time; and in this we have an incidental confirmation — stronger because incidental — that the resurrection of the saints has already taken place. Were they still waiting to be raised, the blessedness of those who as martyrs join their company could scarcely be in doubt. The resurrection having taken place, and the hope of believers being now to enter alive into the Kingdom of the Son of Man at his appearing, as the Lord says of that time, ‘He that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved’ (Matthew 24:13), the question is necessarily raised. What shall be the portion of these martyrs, then, must not remain a question; and in the tenderness of Divine love the answer is explicitly given. Specially blessed are those who die from henceforth: they rest from their labors; they go to their reward. The Spirit seals this with a sweet confirming ‘yea’ — so it is. Earth has only cast them out that heaven may receive them; they have suffered, therefore they shall reign with Christ. Thus accordingly we find in the twentieth chapter, that when the thrones are set and filled, those that have suffered under the beast [and we would add, the image of the beast also] are shown as rising from the dead to reign with the rest of those who reign with him. Not the martyrs in general, but these of this special time are marked distinctly as finding acknowledgment and blessing in that ‘first resurrection,’ from which it might have seemed that they were shut out altogether.

“It may help some to see how similar was the difficulty that had to be met for the Thessalonian saints, and which the Apostle meets also with a special ‘word of the Lord,’ in his first epistle. They too were looking for the Lord, so that the language of their hearts was (with that of the Apostle), ‘We who are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord.’ They had been ‘turned to God from idols, to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven’; and with a lively and expectant faith they waited.

“But then what about those who were fallen asleep in Christ? It is evident that here is all their difficulty. He would not have them ignorant concerning those that were asleep, so as to be sorrowing for them, hopeless as to their share in the blessing of that day. Nay, those who remained would not go before these sleeping ones; they would rise first, and those who were alive would then be ‘caught up with them to meet the Lord in the air.’ This for Christians now [before the resurrection occurs] is thus the authoritative word of comfort. For them the old difficulty appears once more [severe tests of faith through persecution at the hands of the image of the beast], and must be met with a new revelation [contained in the words “Blessed are those dead who die in the Lord from this time”]. How perfect and congruous in all its parts is the precious Word of God! And how plainly we have in what might seem even an obscure or strange expression — ‘blessed from henceforth,’ a confirmation of the general interpretation of all this part of Revelation” (F. W. Grant).

All of these expositors wrote before 1850 with the exception of the last, who wrote we believe in the closing years of the Nineteenth Century. So far as we have been able to discover, the first one who clearly unfolded this Scripture and proclaimed it in the “heaven” of the vision, was Mr. Russell. He, and those associated with him in his work, seem to be represented by the “voice.” In this statement of verse 13 we have another convincing confirmation of the fact that the interpretation given herein of the Lamb standing on Mount Zion is now meeting its fulfillment. It is a matter of proving the fulfillment of prophecy by the unfolding of history — “And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it come to pass, ye might believe.” We quote Mr. Russell’s words:

“Uniformly throughout the Bible except this one instance death is represented as a dreadful disaster, a terrible enemy, a devouring monster, and the grave as a great prison, permitted of our loving Heavenly Father, only because men had become sinners and must be destroyed. …

“In view of the general expression of enmity to death, in the Scriptures, the above solitary text speaking of it as a blessing, is rather peculiar until we notice that the application is limited by the word ‘henceforth’ [‘this time,’ Diaglott]. Not always, but henceforth death may be a blessing. But notice another limitation; it will not henceforth be a blessing to all mankind, but only to those in the Lord — members in particular of the Body of Christ, the Little Flock to whom it is the Father’s good pleasure to give the Kingdom — to all others death will continue to be an enemy until its final destruction in the Millennial reign (Hosea 13:14).

“Again, it is unusual to speak of those already dead as dying; but the spirit uses this seemingly incongruous expression, evidently desiring to limit the application of the death blessing to a certain class, ‘Blessed are the dead (dead to the world — crucified with Christ — “ye are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God”), who die in the Lord from henceforth.’

“Now, we are full of interest to know when, from what time forward, will it be blessed for the special class mentioned, to die. These words were written for our edification and we should be able to know when they apply; especially if we are in the Lord and dead to the world; for it was part of our Master’s promise that the spirit should guide us into an understanding of the Truth and show us things to come (John 16:13). If as we believe the last members of the Body of Christ are now living — ‘the feet of him’ — it is time that we understand this passage, which clearly refers to the feet. …

“But we inquire, In what respect will death be a blessing to us now, that it has not always been to other members of the Body? We answer, The difference is that we shall not sleep, but we will be instantly invested with our heavenly, spiritual bodies, being changed in a moment, dropping all that is human and earthly, and being clothed upon with our heavenly condition. In the case of Jesus, there were nearly three days of sleep — the unclothed condition between the times when the earthly body was resigned and the heavenly body was received — Paul and others have been nearly two thousand years waiting ‘unclothed’ or ‘asleep in Jesus,’ and this is one of the principal reasons why death was undesirable even to Christians: We do not wish to be unclothed, even for a moment, but we do desire to be clothed upon or have the change an instantaneous one (1 Corinthians 15:52).

“Herein consists the blessing to those of the Body now taken. Death of the human will be instantaneous with the perfecting of the Divine nature, hence it will be a blessed ‘change.’ ‘Yea, saith the spirit, that they may rest from their labors; for their works follow with them.’

“Nowhere in the Scriptures is death represented as in any sense a blessing, except in this one instance; and here it is particularly limited and made applicable to a certain specific time — ‘from henceforth.’ And even then, notice, it is blessed only to a special class — ‘the dead who die.’ This expression must not be considered a blunder, but as a very pointed and forcible description of the small class to whom death will be a blessing. This class constitutes ‘the feet of him.’ And, as already shown, each member of the Body of Christ must finish his sacrifice in actual death.

“These alone are the dead who die. They are reckoned of God as being already dead and they are exhorted so also to reckon themselves: ‘Reckon ye yourselves dead indeed unto sin.’ No other dead men can be said to die but this class of dead ones, who must finish their course of sacrifice in actual death.

“Thus will God help Zion in the dawning of her morning — in the morning of the eternal day of Christ’s triumph. Thus He is already helping her. One by one, imperceptibly to the world, the saints are now being changed, and are joining the company of the Church triumphant; and those who remain to the last proclaim the everlasting Gospel until the door is shut and all opportunity to labor is at an end. Then they will ‘stand’ in faith and patience and await their change, accepting deliverance joyfully through whatsoever agency God may be pleased to permit its accomplishment.

“Thus they will be saved from that great hurricane of trouble which will follow their departure, as well as preserved in the forepart of the battle in which a thousand will fall into infidelity, and be overcome by the various pestilences of error, to one who will stand (Psalms 91:7).”

“Changed in a Moment”

We have seen that it was this writer’s interpretation (and we believe it was well founded) that the vision of the Lamb and the hundred and forty-four thousand standing on Mount Zion, the voice of the harpers, the singing of the song by the hundred and forty-four thousand, the preaching of the everlasting Gospel, the announcement of the Judgment Day, and the proclamation of Babylon’s fall, were all due to have their fulfillment, and have been in process of fulfillment simultaneously, during the harvest time of this Gospel Age. Thus as these various events of transcendent importance were fulfilling, the “voice from heaven” was heard to say, “Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth,” that is, from the time of the events just mentioned, blessed indeed are the dead who die in the Lord. The meaning therefore would seem to be that this proclamation marks not only the time of the resurrection of the sleeping saints of the past Gospel Age, but also indicates that from that time forward those who finish their course in death will experience their change immediately by the power of the First Resurrection; these events are surely due in connection with the presence of the great King. The events named above — the Lamb upon Mount Zion, the harpers, the singers, the announcement of the everlasting Gospel, etc., are events that follow immediately the Second Coming of Christ, whose presence is invisible, and for a time, of such secrecy as to be known only to the Church. Then in close connection with the advent of the Savior, and the fulfilling of these events, the resurrection of the sleeping saints is due, as the Apostle announces — “The dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall [as we die] be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” It is, therefore, these who are “alive and remain” unto the presence of the Lord that come under the benediction of this announcement: “Blessed are the dead who die”! Blessed are these who from the date that marks the Second Presence of Christ as King, finish their course and die in the Lord. Why blessed? Because they will not need to wait and remain asleep in death; but as they finish their sacrifice, they are “changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye,” and join the heavenly throng that has gone before. Mr. Russell adds:

“Accordingly, when the setting up of the Kingdom was due, their awakening from the sleep of death was due. Why should their waiting and sleep continue after the Lord is present and the time for his Kingdom has come? There can be no reason for it; and we believe, therefore, that they ‘sleep’ no longer, but are now risen, and with and like their Lord. And if their continuance in the sleep of death is no longer necessary, neither is it necessary that any of the saints who now die in this time of the Presence of the Lord and the setting up of his Kingdom should ‘sleep’ or wait in death for a resurrection at some future time.”