Rev. 14:6-13, The Everlasting Gospel

In Rev. 14:6-7 an angel announces the “everlasting gospel” to the world.  The words the angel speaks are, “Fear God and give Him glory.”  The gospel, when fully revealed (1 Cor. 15:1-9), is Christ died for our sins and was buried and raised three days later.  No one, ever, OT or NT, could be saved apart from the person and work of Jesus Christ.  But, of course, from Adam to John the Baptist, the details were sketchy.  Yet, there were many saved people (Heb. 11) who had various levels of information, who were saved because they feared God and gave Him glory.  They trusted God according to the information they had.  Let’s briefly review.

·       Gen. 3:15: Adam knew the Savior would be human like him.

·       Gen. 4:1ff: Abel knew the Savior would shed His blood.  So did Cain.  But only one feared God and gave Him glory.

·       Gen. 12:1-3: Abraham knew the Savior would be his descendent and have a connection with a land God would show him.  In Gen. 15:1-6 Abraham came to grips with God’s promise of a Son, so there could be a Savior.  In Gen. 22:8 Abraham knew God would provide the Savior.  In Gen. 22:15-18, Abraham and Moses, understood that the shedding of the Savior’s blood would involve “the Mountain of the LORD.”  It is possible Abraham also understood that the Savior would be God’s Son.  In all this, Abraham feared God and gave Him glory.

·       Ex. 12:38: There were people who went with Israel out of Egypt who were not of Israelite heritage.  The reason would be that they feared the God of Israel, who had shown Himself mighty, and they gave Him glory in this decision.  The “in-laws” of Moses, the Kenites, went along, demonstrating they hoped in the Savior of Israel (Ex. 18:1,9-12; Num. 10:29,32).  Generally, the nations in Canaan rejected the Savior (Josh. 9:1-2).  But in Josh. 2:10-13 Rahab was saved because she, and apparently no one else in Jericho, feared the God of Israel and gave Him glory.  In Josh. 9:9-10,24, so did the Gibeonites.  And add Ruth to that list (Ruth 1:16-17).  In each of these cases, the decisions were “religious.”  It was not just a matter of thinking the Israelites had a better army.  It was that they recognized their God was worthy of fear and glory.

·       In the NT the “gospel of the kingdom” preached by John the Baptist and by Jesus (Jn. 1:26-34; Mt. 3:1-2; 4:17) called men to repentance.  They were to glorify God by recognizing the One who was coming (John’s message) and the One who had come from heaven (Jesus’ message). 

·       Matt. 25:31-46: The judgment of the nations is based on their treatment of the Judge, who is Christ.  How they treat Him is seen in how they treat His “brethren,” the people of Israel.  He does not say, “did you believe in My death and resurrection.”  Rather, He refers to the evidence that will demonstrate their faith in the crucified and risen Lord, evidence that they feared and glorified God.