Christ our Righteousness Bible Study (Part 10)

Revelation 14:6-12 contains God’s last message to a lost world before the return of Jesus Christ (verse 14) represented as being proclaimed by three angels with “a loud voice” (verses 7,9) to “every nation, kindred, tongue and people” (verse 6). The third angel concludes:

Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus (Revelation 14:12).

This is the word of the Lord. Notice carefully that God’s final, apocalyptic “saints” (who accept the three angel’s messages) have two primary characteristics: 1) they “keep the commandments of God,” 2) “and the faith of Jesus.” Thus they combine obedience to God’s “commandments” with “faith” in “Jesus” as their Savior. The goal of this entire series (Parts 1-10) is to clarify how this combination works, and to inspire you to be on the Lord’s side.

In a nutshell, the heart of the third angel’s message can be illustrated by two mountains : Mount Sinai and Mount Calvary. On Mount Sinai, God gave His law of Ten Commandments amid thunder and flame (see Ex. 19-20). On Mount Calvary, amidst the horror of a great darkness, the Son of God paid the full penalty for our sins of breaking it (see Matt. 27:32-50; 1 Cor. 15:3; 1 John 3:4). Mount Sinai shows us our dire condition as lawbreakers (see Romans 3:20). Mount Calvary reveals our Savior. Without the cross, the law brings hopelessness. Without the law, the gospel is meaningless. Thus both are essential, and inseparable.

To summarize, why do we need a Savior? The biblical answer is, because we have broken “the law of righteousness” (Rom. 9:31). What did Jesus Christ do to save us? He kept the law perfectly to become “THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS” (Jer. 23:6), and then paid the just penalty for our transgressions because He loves us. Without a Savior, condemnation hangs over us and we remain “guilty before God” (Rom. 3:19). Without Jesus, our only future is “indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish” (Rom. 2:8-9) and “the day of wrath” when God “will render to each one according to his deeds” (Rom. 2:5-6). What misery. Thank God for His gospel! Through repentance and faith in “Christ our Righteousness” we can legally be pardoned, forgiven, cleared, justified, cleansed, and then transformed into “obedient children” (1 Pet. 1:14). This is the fullness of God’s message and the goal of the third angel. This alone can prepare us for the return of our Lord on a “white cloud” to reap “the harvest of the earth” (see Rev. 14:14-16).

I will conclude this series with six Bible texts. Read them. Meditate on them. Trust them. Receive them. Live them. Jesus loves you. May God bless you!

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16)

Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him (Romans 5:9)

That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith (Eph. 3:17)

That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit (Romans 8:4)

Love is the fulfilling of the law (Romans 13:10)

Here is the patience of the saints; here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus (Revelation 14:12).

–The End–

Recommended reading:

Christ and His Righteousness, by E. J. Waggoner (1890). Available from White Horse Media. 1-800-782-4253. www.whitehorsemedia.com