John Thiel, Third Angel’s Message, study 5, mp3

The latter rain is the teacher of righteousness according to righteousness. As the Holy Spirit worked through the angels it could be identified in the first angel’s message as the former rain, which prepared the way for the third angel’s message, which then becomes the latter rain. The people who were under the teaching of the first angel’s message understood the work of justification and sanctification, of Christ and His righteousness, all this apprenticeship that they entered into, as being the activity by which they were to gain perfection. Under the direction of the Holy Spirit they were ultimately to receive the finishing touch in the latter rain, which was their graduation, as it were. As we have seen through the statements of the Spirit of Prophecy, only the people who had been prepared and purified could receive the latter rain. This is summarized here:

Pure religion has to do with the will. The will is the governing power in the nature of man, bringing all the other faculties under its sway. The will is not the taste or the inclination, but it is the deciding power, which works in the children of men unto obedience to God, or unto disobedience. {RC 294.2}

By steadfastly keeping the will on the Lord’s side, [you will bring] every emotion . . . into captivity to the will of Jesus. You will then find your feet on solid rock. It will take, at times, every particle of willpower that you possess, but it is God that is working for you, and you will come forth from the molding process a vessel unto honor. {RC 294.4}

This is the apprenticeship principle. We enter into an apprenticeship with a will and a deciding power that must be governed to go contrary to all our impulses and emotions. As we permit that to take its course, we will ultimately come forth from the molding process a vessel unto honour. In the study on the mark of the beast we have seen that the mark is applied to people who are molded by the world, whereas the seal of God is placed upon people who are molded by the truth and will stand finally in purity. Under the third angel’s message the latter rain places its finishing touch to those who have placed their will under the gospel activity of the first angel’s message through to the point of the third angel. When this has been achieved, when there are a people who have placed themselves so fully under this process of the apprenticeship of purification and sanctification, this will be the next event to occur:

Isaiah 59:20 And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the LORD. 21 As for me, this [is] my covenant with them, saith the LORD; My spirit that [is] upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith the LORD, from henceforth and for ever. 

Isaiah 60:1 Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee. 2 For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.

Through the work of Christ, through His covenant, the Spirit God has been working in and upon the people, and God’s word is in their mouth and it shall not depart out of their mouth or out of their life. Therefore they are called upon to shine. Remember the candlesticks and the oil running from the two olive trees. That oil runs in and ignites the candlesticks. That is the Holy Spirit from the angels, and the angels’ messages come to the people, and then they will shine because the Holy Spirit has illuminated their life through the activity of His training in the apprenticeship. Now they can arise and shine for the glory of the Lord is risen upon them. Verse 8 actually identifies the period of time in the secular world around them:

Isaiah 60:8 Who [are] these [that] fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows? 

The prophet sees the events and the times in which they are to shine. “And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.” The kings will recognize that something special is happening here. At this time the prophet sees these things flying in the clouds, and they come down as doves to their windows. It is very similar to what we can read in Joel where it says that the sun shall be darkened and that there would be pillars of smoke (atomic bombs). The prophets are seeing these things at such a time as this. We can identify that this activity of arising and shining takes place in the period of time when these airplanes are flying.

We are not to make less prominent the special truths that have separated us from the world, and made us what we are; for they are fraught with eternal interests. God has given us light in regard to the things that are now taking place, and with pen and voice we are to proclaim the truth to the world. {RC 216.2}

In today’s terms, with CDs, tapes, and internet/computer – with pen and voice.

But it is the life of Christ in the soul, it is the active principle of love imparted by the Holy Spirit, that alone will make our words fruitful. The love of Christ is the force and power of every message for God that ever fell from human lips. {RC 216.2}

As we are to arise and shine, what we do with pen and voice must be substantiated by the active principle of the love imparted by the Holy Spirit. That alone will make our words fruitful. This is a very weighty concept, which is the key of our whole study on the loud cry. As the latter rain, the Holy Spirit, falls upon us, giving us not only the truth but taking of Jesus and showing it unto us internally, God shows not only the time period of this event but directly points out the people of God who are involved in this work:

Joel 2:29 And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit. 30 And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. 31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come. 32 And it shall come to pass, [that] whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call.

We have here the identification of the period, right through the three angels’ messages, and a revelation of the remnant people where there is safety and salvation. God is going to make prominent the remnant people in such a period of time.

A last call to a doomed world is going be given at that time under the power of the latter rain. Under the power of the loud cry the people will be made very conscious of the second angel’s message, Babylon is fallen.

Isaiah 26:20 Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast. 21 For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain. 

The latter rain takes place before that day, and the last call is, Come my people, come and hide yourself. Where will be salvation? In Zion, in the remnant. Come my people, shut thy doors about thee. This is the specifics of the warning of the loud cry. Here is what the remnant people of God are called to do:

Isaiah 58:1 Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.

In Matthew 24 we are told that the angels would be sent with a great sound of a trumpet, and here is the work of the people of God, Lift up thy voice like a trumpet. These three angels’ message people are called upon to cry aloud, to lift up their voice, to show God’s people their transgressions. It is not so much by the pen and voice, but it is the life of Christ in the soul, it is the active principle of love imparted by the Holy Spirit, that alone will make our words fruitful fruitful. It is going to be a very loud cry. That is the angel of Revelation 18. He comes with great power and his glory shall fill the whole earth.

Revelation 18:1 And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.

Remember Isaiah 60, Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. Here it is. The glory of this angel covers the whole earth.

Revelation 18:2 And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen,

Cry aloud, spare not, show my people their transgression.

Revelation 18:4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. 

That’s Isaiah 26, “Come, my people … hide thyself … until the indignation be overpast.” This is amplified in The Great Controversy:

The most fearful threatening ever addressed to mortals is contained in the third angel’s message. That must be a terrible sin which calls down the wrath of God unmingled with mercy. Men are not to be left in darkness concerning this important matter; the warning against this sin is to be given to the world before the visitation of God’s judgments, that all may know why they are to be inflicted, and have opportunity to escape them. Prophecy declares that the first angel would make his announcement to “every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people.” The warning of the third angel, which forms a part of the same threefold message, is to be no less widespread. It is represented in the prophecy as being proclaimed with a loud voice, by an angel flying in the midst of heaven; and it will command the attention of the world. {GC 449.2}

It will command the attention of the world. We need therefore to consider the circumstances that will bring this about. What are the circumstances that will produce such an impact so that everybody has got plenty of warning before the final outpouring of God’s wrath takes place? The things that we have studied before are now coming into focus again because we are looking at the impact of the beast and his image.

Revelation 13:15 And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. 16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:

Here are the events that bring before the world a people who will not worship the beast or receive his mark. We have studied that the mark of the beast is the conflict between Sabbath and Sunday. Here is an event in the world’s history when by causing all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive this mark and to be subjected to it, that circumstance is going to bring to prominence the very ones who are opposing it. This is the very message of the third angel. Here are the people of the third angel who are saying with a loud voice:

Revelation 14:9 … If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive [his] mark in his forehead, or in his hand, 10 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:

This angel is actually proclaiming the exact opposite to what the world is being caused to do. You can see by looking at those scriptures that an event takes place that will bring the people of God who are holding to these truths to prominence. They have been going through the process of apprenticeship to the point where they will actually shine, the glory of the Lord will be seen upon them, and they will be made prominent by these events.

“Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life.” Every position of truth taken by our people will bear the criticism of the greatest minds; the highest of the world’s great men will be brought in contact with truth, {Ev 69.1} 

The highest of the world’s great men, the kings shall come to the brightness of thy rising.

… and therefore every position we take should be critically examined and tested by the Scriptures. Now we seem to be unnoticed, but this will not always be. Movements are at work to bring us to the front, and if our theories of truth can be picked to pieces by historians or the world’s greatest men, it will be done. {Ev 69.1} 

We must individually know for ourselves what is truth, and be prepared to give a reason of the hope that we have with meekness and fear, not in a proud, boasting, self-sufficiency, but with the spirit of Christ. {Ev 69.2}

Under the outpouring of the latter rain it will be done in the Spirit that is in us, by the gentle love of Jesus Christ, yet standing there proclaiming the truth. “Cry aloud, spare not” is always perceived as though we have to go and become violent with our voice. But we will see that this is not to be done in a proud spirit, not in a boasting self-sufficiency, but with the Spirit of Christ.

We are nearing the time when we shall stand individually alone to answer for our belief. Religious errors are multiplying and entwining themselves with Satanic power about the people. There is scarcely a doctrine of the Bible that has not been denied.–Letter 6, 1886. {Ev 69.2}

Here are a people under the work of the latter rain who are going to be made prominent by the circumstances. As those circumstances close in, what are some of the experiences that God’s people will make at such a time? How will they be brought face to face with great men by these circumstances?

In the great closing work we shall meet with perplexities that we know not how to deal with, but let us not forget that the three great powers of heaven are working, that a divine hand is on the wheel, and that God will bring His purposes to pass. {Mar 252.2}

The time will come when we shall be brought before councils and before thousands for His name’s sake, and each one will have to give the reason of his faith. {Mar 252.3}

How will God’s people be brought before thousands?

The time is not far off when the people of God will be called upon to give their testimony before the rulers of the earth. Not one in twenty has a realization of what rapid strides we are making toward the great crisis in our history. . . . There is no time for vanity, for trifling, for engaging the mind in unimportant matters. {Mar 253.2} 

Kings, governors, and great men will hear of you through the reports of those who are at enmity with you, and your faith and character will be misrepresented before them. But those who are falsely accused will have an opportunity to appear in the presence of their accusers to answer for themselves. They will have the privilege of bringing the light before those who are called the great men of the earth, and if you have studied the Bible, if you are ready to give an answer to every man that asketh you of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear, your enemies will not be able to gainsay your wisdom. RH, April 26, 1892. {Mar 253.3}

This is the actual method by which the loud cry will take place. “Arise, shine” doesn’t mean I am going to become boastful about things, but because I have proceeded through the apprenticeship of Christ in my life with Him, there comes a point in time when God is going to make us prominent, not we ourselves. He will make us prominent through perplexities. It is through people who are at enmity with us that we are going to be brought before the courts. That’s how it’s going to happen. The world has already been so geared through the events of laws that take away the specific beliefs that God’s people are to have under the three angels’ messages that they will become prominent because of those very processes. We will be brought into prominence by those who are watching us, our own relatives, friends, church members. Who will be responsible for putting God’s people in?

As the storm approaches, a large class who have professed faith in the third angel’s message, but have not been sanctified through obedience to the truth, abandon their position and join the ranks of the opposition. {GC 608.2}

They are people who themselves have had faith in the third angel’s message, people who know us.

They become the most bitter enemies of their former brethren. When Sabbathkeepers are brought before the courts to answer for their faith, these apostates are the most efficient agents of Satan to misrepresent and accuse them, and by false reports and insinuations to stir up the rulers against them. {GC 608.2}

They are the ones that will put God’s people in. It has already happened in the First and Second World War. It has already happened, and it will only continue to intensify.

As the controversy extends into new fields and the minds of the people are called to God’s downtrodden law, Satan is astir. The power attending the message will only madden those who oppose it. The clergy will put forth almost superhuman efforts to shut away the light lest it should shine upon their flocks. {GC 607.1}

They will try to get rid of those that are proclaiming it.

By every means at their command they will endeavor to suppress the discussion of these vital questions. The church appeals to the strong arm of civil power, and, in this work, papists and Protestants unite. As the movement for Sunday enforcement becomes more bold and decided, the law will be invoked against commandment keepers. They will be threatened with fines and imprisonment, and some will be offered positions of influence, and other rewards and advantages, as inducements to renounce their faith. But their steadfast answer is: “Show us from the word of God our error”–the same plea that was made by Luther under similar circumstances. Those who are arraigned before the courts make a strong vindication of the truth, and some who hear them are led to take their stand to keep all the commandments of God. Thus light will be brought before thousands who otherwise would know nothing of these truths. {GC 607.1}

That’s how it is going to happen, thousands will hear through this method. This is the evangelistic method by which the loud cry of the third angel will makes its impact. With everything that we have been reading, we notice that it will not be the proud evangelistic boastfulness that will do it, but it will be a people who have a meek and quiet spirit while they stand faithful to the principles of God’s Word.

Bible religion is not to be boastfully paraded, but quietly practiced in good words and works.–Ms 74, 1897. {VSS 30.3}

The people who manifest this quiet practice, this gentle spirit of Jesus Christ in their lives as they stand firm and faithful through the opposing influences against the third angel’s message, these people will be the loud cry people. It will happen in a totally different way to what people think. It’s going to be overpowering.

If our brethren, who profess to believe the truth, would show their faith by their works, they would honor God and be enabled to convince many souls that they have the truth, for according to their faith and their obedience will they realize the fulfillment of the promises of God and be endowed with power from on high.–Letter 1, March 29, 1883. {UL 102.5}

What is it? People who don’t only profess to believe the truth, but who would show their faith by their works. They have come through the apprenticeship to the works of purity and righteousness. And as they show this they honor God and are enabled to convince many souls that they have the truth. As they stand before thousands, thousands will hear by their manner, by their faith and their obedience, and thereby they will have power from on high. That is the power of the Holy Spirit.

This is what takes place in Zion, in the remnant:

The love of Christ, the love of our brethren, will testify to the world that we have been with Jesus and learned of Him. Then will the message of the third angel swell to a loud cry, and the whole earth will be lightened with the glory of the Lord. {6T 401.1}

How will it happen? By brethren who have the love of Christ, the love of their brethren. There will be a people on earth who are so imbued with love and affection to God that they are sealed with the seal of God, the Sabbath. They are not molded by the world. While the rest of the world is being molded to receive the mark of the beast, there are still people amongst them who are nervous about this situation, and here is a people that stand there with such a Christian demeanor and are demonstrating such unity of love in the truth and for each other, that this creates a loud screaming cry. Like they say, Your actions speak louder than your words, your behaviour screams at me. That’s the loud cry. This is the fulfillment of the Revelation 18 angel. The loud cry is the call of the people of God to the churches so that the people of God still in them might come out, because there are people of God in the different churches that are just waiting for this to happen. They know it can’t happen in their churches, but they don’t know where else to go, and here are a people, the remnant where there is salvation. The manner in which it is done is by being manifested in the lifestyle of the character and the obedience of Jesus Christ. The glory of God is seen upon them, and the circumstances that call forth the utterances of their belief have culminated. Here is the cry:

Zechariah 2:6 Ho, ho, [come forth], and flee from the land of the north, saith the LORD:

The land of the north is Babylon

Zechariah 2:6 … for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heaven, saith the LORD. 7 Deliver thyself, O Zion, that dwellest [with] the daughter of Babylon.

Zion (God’s church) that dwells in Babylon. God has people in Babylon. Those people that are God’s church, God’s Zion that dwells with the daughter of Babylon, are being called out by the remnant who are already separated.

Isaiah 52:11 Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean [thing]; go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the LORD. 12 For ye shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight: for the LORD will go before you; and the God of Israel [will be] your rereward.

Come out from among them, touch no unclean thing. It is the exact same message as Revelation 18. Come out from among them, depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, out of Babylon, touch no unclean thing. Go ye out of the midst of her, be ye clean. For ye shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight: for the Lord will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your rereward. It is a process of the messages that are doing their work, and the people in the courts, even that speaks for itself because there will still be time. The Lord will bring about circumstances and before the very close of probation the faithful ones can still be called out and can escape for their life. Come and hide yourselves for a little moment, because the indignation is going to come. There will be people who will come out by haste, like Lot, but those who listen to these messages will be like Abraham. They will be like Enoch. That’s what these messages are for. You don’t have to go out in haste if you follow the leading of the Lord.

That is what Jesus talked about. God has His sheep in the various different folds, but there is one fold and one Shepherd that all the others will join.

John 10:16 And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, [and] one shepherd.

His sheep and His fold, those who are in tune with the Zion of heaven, who have been going through the whole works, like we have studied them, they will be the avenue through which He will speak, and others will hear His voice through His people.

Angels were seen hurrying to and fro in heaven, this other angel of Revelation 18 comes into the picture, and then it says:

Angels were sent to aid the mighty angel from heaven, and I heard voices which seemed to sound everywhere, “Come out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.” This message seemed to be an addition to the third message, joining it as the midnight cry joined the second angel’s message in 1844. The glory of God rested upon the patient, waiting saints, and they fearlessly gave the last solemn warning, proclaiming the fall of Babylon and calling upon God’s people to come out of her that they might escape her fearful doom. {EW 277.2}

The light that was shed upon the waiting ones penetrated everywhere, and those in the churches who had any light, who had not heard and rejected the three messages, obeyed the call and left the fallen churches. Many had come to years of accountability since these messages had been given, and the light shone upon them, and they were privileged to choose life or death. Some chose life and took their stand with those who were looking for their Lord and keeping all His commandments. The third message was to do its work; all were to be tested upon it, and the precious ones were to be called out from the religious bodies. A compelling power moved the honest, while the manifestation of the power of God brought a fear and restraint upon their unbelieving relatives and friends so that they dared not, neither had they the power to, hinder those who felt the work of the Spirit of God upon them. …. God was in the work, and every saint, fearless of consequences, followed the convictions of his own conscience and united with those who were keeping all the commandments of God; and with power they sounded abroad the third message. I saw that this message will close with power and strength far exceeding the midnight cry. {EW 278.1}

Souls that were scattered all through the religious bodies answered to the call, and the precious were hurried out of the doomed churches, as Lot was hurried out of Sodom before her destruction. {EW 278.2}

They are the ones that are hurried, the other ones don’t have to hurry.

God’s people were strengthened by the excellent glory which rested upon them in rich abundance and prepared them to endure the hour of temptation. I heard everywhere a multitude of voices saying, “Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” {EW 278.2}

This is the loud cry in conjunction with the latter rain, which is the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, which is the glory of God in character and practice and in pen and voice. Any portion of that is not sufficient; it has to be the entirety of it. Through this loud cry the world has been subdued and then, when the loud cry has been given, there comes the enforcement of the Sunday law and the death decree. This is what our next study will be, the effect of this message in the Sunday law enforcement.

Amen.