"The first angel (Rev. 14:6)
is described as having the "everlasting gospel." The gospel is the good
news of salvation, which is needed because of man's fall. The creation
story forms the basis for understanding that fall: "Therefore, just as
through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and
so death spread to all men, because all sinned" (Rom. 5:12, NASB cf 1 Tim. 2:13-14).
Q: What is the parallelism between judgment and creation?
Q: Who is the
Creator?
Q: Who is our Judge?
A: It is Jesus, who created us, who will also be
with us in the judgment.
The good news (gospel) is that creation and
redemption are linked in Jesus Christ.
Jesus is our Creator (John 1:3), as well as our Advocate in the judgment (1 John 2:1).
God has both created us and saved us through Jesus (Col. 1:13-17).
The first angel's message consists of two parts.
--The first part is (paraphrased): "Fear God and give Him glory, because of judgment."
--The second part
is (again paraphrased): "Worship Him who created."
In Hebrew
writing, an idea was often expressed twice, using different words. This
is a way of emphasizing a point. The first angel's message can be
treated as such a parallelism:
Fear [Respect] God because of judgment, and
Worship God because of creation." CreationSabbath