WHY YOU SHOULD PREPARE NOW! Church and state unite. Falsehood prevails. Demons work their miracles to deceive the whole world. The world bursts into its final conflict. What will you do during this terrible crisis? Why you should prepare now!

We continue our study of the three angels’ messages in Revelation 14; within this context, we look at the final conflict and how you can recognize Satan’s deceptions and avoid being deceived.

Review our previous videos at SabbathSchoolDaily.com.

For further study, obtain the study guide for these lessons at Sabbath.School or ssnet.org. 

Let Us Invite God’s Presence:

Holy Father, teach us now what we need to know to prepare for the crisis that is soon to come upon us. In Jesus’ Name Amen

We have established that Revelation is full of symbols. John in Revelation 14: 8 announces the message of the Second Angel, declaring.

8 And another angel followed, saying, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.” (Revelation 14:8).

Then in Revelation 17, we see a woman. As concluded in Lesson 9, she is a symbol of spiritual Babylon.

 Revelation 17:3-9 

3 So he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness. And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.

4 The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication.

5 And on her forehead a name was written: MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

6 I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement (Revelation 17:3-9)

This woman is dressed in purple and scarlet. Scarlet is bright red. She is riding on a scarlet-colored beast. The woman has a golden cup in her hand. The cup is filled with wine which is the abomination and the filthiness of her fornication. The people on the earth are drunk with the wine of her fornication.

The wine of her fornication is symbolic of her false teachings, her false doctrine.  She passes around her wine cup filled with false teaching and gets the world drunk with error. Church and state unite. Falsehood prevails. Demons work their miracles, sign, and wonders to deceive many. The world rushes into its final conflict.

Here we find that in the end, church and government will join in and work together, and people everywhere will believe Babylon’s lies. Demons will work their miracles to deceive the people.

And those who refuse to drink from her cup, that is, the people of God, will be persecuted. They will be ridiculed, oppressed, and abused.  But they do not submit to Babylon’s false doctrines. Because they have accepted Christ and through the power of His Holy Spirit, they prevail because they are prepared.

As expressed in Revelation 12:11

11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. (Revelation 12:11)

They did not fear death. They are steadfast; they are unmovable. They are grounded in the word of God. They are totally committed, and there is nothing that can cause them to turn away from God. God’s people are loyal to Him. All the powers of hell and all the forces of evil cannot make them break their loyalty to Christ. They are secure in Him.

According to Psalms 46:1, He is their “refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” (Psalm 46:1).

How do they prepare? They prepare today; God asks His people to be faithful to his word, the Bible. Just as Jesus prayed to the Father when he said in John 17:17, “ ‘Sanctify them by Your truth. Your Word is truth’ ” (John 17:17).

Here Jesus is referring to the truth as it is written in the Bible. No, not human opinions or traditions, but His word, the Bible. The truth of the Bible is our guide. It will keep us safe in this most critical time. It will keep us safe during the closing of earth’s history.

If not prepared, it becomes easy to get wrapped up in paganism. For instance, a Baptist minister, Dr. Edward T. Hiscox, who wrote the Standard Manual for Baptist Churches, on November 13, 1893, in New York at a Baptist ministers’ conference, while addressing hundreds of Baptist ministers, explained how Sunday worship became a part of the Christian church. Hiscox stated,

“What a pity that it [Sunday] comes branded with the mark of paganism, and christened with the name of the sun god, then adopted and sanctioned by the papal apostasy, and bequeathed as a sacred legacy to Protestantism!”—

Notice what the book Maranatha says about humanity getting caught up in following traditions rather than the word of God.

Men have sought out many inventions. They have taken a common day, upon which God has placed no sanctity, and have clothed it with sacred prerogatives. They have declared it to be a holy day, but this does not give it a vestige of sanctity. They dishonor God by accepting human institutions and presenting to the world as the Christian Sabbath, a day which has no “Thus saith the Lord” for its authority.—Maranatha, p. 238.

Take the time to read Ezekiel 20:1–20. What is the main point of Ezekiel’s message in these verses?

In Ezekiel 20, the Lord tells Israel to worship Him and not their false gods. Notice that Ezekiel repeatedly admonishes the people to honor His Sabbath and keep his statutes (his commandments), and he even points out the consequence of failing to honor His Sabbath and obey his statutes.  

Notice what Paul says to us in I Corinthians 10:11

11 Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. (I Corinthians 10:11)

Thus, it is our duty to be obedient and adhere to the commandments of God. When Jesus prayed in John 17:17, “ ‘Sanctify them by Your truth. Your Word is truth’ ” (John 17:17), he was referring to God’s word as written in the Old Testament, for the New Testament had not yet been written. Hence, it is our duty to live by all of God’s Word, both the Old and the New.

If it is our duty to obey the commandments of God, then what role does grace play? Find out! View part 6: Grace for Obedience