It has been said that William Miller and his Millerite followers preached with a loud voice the first and second angel’s messages of Revelation 14, yet when it came to the third angel’s message, they were deathly silent; Why is that?
The first angel’s message, “Fear God, give glory to him; for the hour of His judgement is come: and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters” Rev. 14:7. For William Miller and his Millerite followers, the first angel’s message announced God’s righteous judgment (the cleaning of the sanctuary (earth) with holy fire) that was soon come upon the wicked of the world at Jesus’ appearing. This message was first preached to the Protestant churches in 1840.
The second angel’s message, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication” Rev. 14:8. In 1843, a Millerite by the name of Charles Fitch, preached a sermon titled, “Come Out of Her My People”. In his sermon, he equated Babylon with the Roman Catholic church and her protestant daughters who rejected the Millerite message of Jesus’ soon coming; thus, in Fitch’s eyes, they made up fallen state of spiritual Babylon!
When it comes to the portion of the third angel’s message, “If any man worship the beast and its image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, 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 Lamb (Jesus)” Rev. 14:9-10. I find it oddly strange that the Millerites and their message of Jesus’ soon coming didn’t include the third angel’s message of dire warning! Why do you suppose?
The answer can be found in William Miller’s 1843 Prophetic Chart. According to Miller’s chart, the beast was symbolic of pagan Rome and its image represented—papal Rome. Knowing that pagan Rome had come to an end in AD 168, left the Millerites in a conundrum when it came to the preaching of the third angel’s message. With no good answer found, they fell silent when it came to the preaching of the third angel’s message—a message of most dire warning to earth’s inhabitants before Jesus’ coming!
Gregory John