And I saw another angel fly in the midst of
heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the
earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, Saying with a
loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is
come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the
fountains of waters. (Rev 14:6-7)
For behold, the Lord God hath sent forth the angel crying through
the midst of heaven, saying: Prepare ye the way of the Lord, and make his paths
straight, for the hour of his coming is nigh— . . . And now, verily saith the Lord,
that these things might be known among you, O inhabitants of the earth, I have
sent forth mine angel flying through the midst of heaven, having the
everlasting gospel, who hath appeared unto some and hath committed it unto men,
who shall appear unto many that dwell on the earth. (D&C 133:17, 36)
In their
1995 book Reasoning from the Scriptures with the Mormons, Ron Rhodes and
Marian Bodine attempted to interact with the common Latter-day Saint
interpretation of Rev 14:6-7:
Would you please read aloud from Revelation
14:6-7?
According to verse 7, what is the content of
the angel's message?
Since the primary role of angels in the book of Revelation
is to announce or carry out various judgments, doesn't it make good sense to
interpret Revelation 14:6 in the same way—that is, as an angel speaking about
God's judgment? (Ron Rhodes and Marian Bodine, Reasoning from the
Scriptures with the Mormons [Eugene, Oreg.: Harvest House Publishers,
1995], 58)
Firstly,
it should be noted that Latter-day Saints are not bound to believe that Moroni
appearing to Joseph Smith is the only fulfillment of Rev 14:6-7. Indeed,
uniquely Latter-day Saint scripture uses the text to describe then-future events, showing that Moroni's appearance does not exhaustively fulfill Rev 14:6-7:
And angels shall fly through the midst of heaven,
crying with a loud voice, sounding the trump of God, saying: Prepare ye,
prepare ye, O inhabitants of the earth; for the judgment of our God is come.
Behold, and lo, the Bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. . . . And they
who have slept in their graves shall come forth, for their graves shall be
opened; and they also shall be caught up to meet him in the midst of the pillar
of heaven—They are Christ's, the first fruits, they who shall descent with him
first, and they who are on the earth and in their graves, who are first caught
up to meet him; and all this by the voice of the sounding of the trump of the
angel of God. And another trump shall sound, which is the fifth trump, which is
the fifth angel who committeth the everlasting gospel—flying through the midst
of heaven, unto all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people. (D&C 88:92,
97-98, 103)
In other words, this angel will proclaim God's judgment against the people on earth. This fits Rev 14:6-7. Commenting on the meaning of “those who live on the earth,” Allan J. McNicol wrote:
In 14:6–7
the first angel issues a general call for both ‘those who live on the earth’
and ‘every nation and tribe and tongue and people’ to abandon their idolatry.
At first glance it may appear that this is a clear case of the earth dwellers
and the nations being directly linked together. But on closer observation we
note that the Greek phrase in 14:6 τοὺς καθημένους ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ‘those who
live upon the earth’ is different from the usual phraseology for earth
dwellers, who, in the Apocalypse are the unqualified enemies of the people of
God. Richard Bauckham has argued that the text of Revelation 14:6–7 echoes
phraseology of Psalm 96 (LXX Psalm 95) and 98:7 (LXX Psalm 97), affirming the
proclamation of God’s triumph over the nations. Since 14:6–11 is also an
announcement of the pending judgment of God the use of Isaiah 52:7 may also be
considered one of John’s sources for this announcement. Revelation 14:6–7 takes
Isaiah’s good news of the defeat of Babylon by Cyrus as the declaration that
God is coming to vindicate the righteous and to judge evil-doers in the new
Babylon (cf. 14:8). The text is emphatic on the matter of final accountability.
But, unlike 13:8, where the earth dwellers are flatly excluded from the book of
life, Revelation 14:6–7 functions as a final warning to the totality of the
whole earth, that it is time to shift allegiance from idolatry to the one
Creator God.
This is
reinforced by the message of the second angel, where, for the first time, Rome
is introduced under the template of Babylon, the traditional enemy of the
people of God (14:8). Babylon has intoxicated πάντα τὰ ἔθνη ‘all of
the nations’ with irresistible offers of power. But she is already introduced
as fallen (cf. Isa. 21:9; Jer. 51:7). Therefore all of the nations are warned
against placing their hope in her. (Allan J.
McNicol, The Conversion of the Nations in Revelation [Library of New
Testament Studies 438; London: T&T Clark, 2011], 32-33)
This fits nicely with Joseph Smith's interpretation of the passage. For instance, Joseph Smith, Discourse, May 12, 1844 (as reported by Thomas Bullock):
John the Revelator saw an angel flying thro’ the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, &c. the Scripture is ready to be fulfilled when great wars, famines, pestilence, judgments &c are ready to be poured out on the Inhabitants of the Earth— John saw the angel having the priesthood who should preach— God had an angel, ordained, & prepared for the that purpose in the last days— Woe! Woe! be to that man, or set of men, who lift up their hands against God and his Witness in these last days—— for they shall deceive almost the very chosen ones
In George Laub’s account of Joseph’s May 12, 1844 discourse, we read:
Nauvoo By Joseph Smith Prophet Concerning gods Witness
14 chapter of revelations of John 6–7 verses & the Original translation Reads thus and I will send you a nother witness and he shall preach this gospel to all nations to the Ends of the world. But woe to that man or woman who shall lift up his or their hands against gods witness for the[y] are rasing their arm against the power of god and the[y] will be cursed. But in these times in the last days there will many fals Prophets arise and fals teachers and deceave many the[y] shall have many followers by their deceit. the[y] strive to get power and by their pernitious ways lead of[f] many— For Brother Joseph Smith was chosen for the Last despensation or seventh Despensation the time the grand council set in heaven to organise this world Joseph was chosen for the Last and greatest Prophet to Lay the foundation of gods work therefore the Jews asked John the Baptist if he was Elias or Jesus or that great prophet that was to come—— and the devil or lucifer also organised his kingdom in oposit to overthrow gods and he Became a sun [son] of perdition . . . Brother Joseph Smith was sent to remind the world of sin of rituousness and of a judgment that was to come But this is that of what John says in his 14th. chapter but he says of sin of rituousne [righteousness] and of a judgment to come to reprove the world. this is rong Translated for to remind is correct way Concerning thos[e] who here the gospe[l] Now concerning these who know the gospel and do not obey But fight against it will be shut up in prison under condemnation and shall not be visited till many days hence. Isaiah 24 ch. then some person has to redeem them By making a forfit of some payment for them. &
Notwithstanding,
there are various aspects of Moroni's mission that fulfill John's prophecy in
Rev 14:6-7. The following is based on Duane S. Crowther, The Prophecies of
Joseph Smith: Over 400 Prophecies by and About Joseph Smith and Their
Fulfillment (Bountiful, Utah: Horizon Publishers and Distributors, 1983),
59-60:
(1)
The angel was to have the everlasting gospel. This Moroni claimed, for he told Joseph
Smith that the fullness of the everlasting gospel was contained in the Book of
Mormon (JS-H 1:34)
(2)
John's prophecy indicates that the angel was to come in a period of apostasy
when the gospel was not to be found on the earth, for he said that he would
bring the gospel with him.
(3)
The message brought forth by the angel was to be preached throughout the world.
Such was Moroni's intention when he told the Prophet Joseph Smith that his
"name should be had for good and evil among all nations, kindreds,
tongues, or that it should be both good and evil spoken of among all
people" (JS-H 1:33).
(4)
John's prophecy said that the angel would say that the hour of God's judgment has come. Moroni told Joseph Smith of "great judgments which were coming
upon the earth, with great desolations by famine, sword, and pestilence; and
that these grievous judgments would come on the earth in this generation"
(JS-H 1:45).
(5)
John prophesied that the angel's message would include the admonition to
worship and fear the creator of heaven and earth (Rev 14:7). Such was Moroni's
message when he cited numerous Old Testament prophecies of the second coming of
Christ and said that "the day had not yet come when 'they who would not
hear his voice should be cut off from among the people,' but soon would
come" (JS-H 1:40).
Notice also what RLDS member George A. Njeim wrote concerning Rev 14:6-7:
Now a comparison of this young man’s vision with the account by the apostle in his revelation on Patmos would show clearly that the revelation that came in 1823 to this youth from New York State was the answer to what the prophet John saw about the year A.D. 97.
(1) John saw an angel with the gospel coming to preach to men on earth. This young man tells us that a messenger from God appeared to him and told him of a record deposited in the ground and in it there was to be found the fullness of the gospel.
(2) The angel asked men to fear God and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea.
(3 The angel whom John saw was to proclaim the hour of judgment. The messenger that appeared to Joseph Smith told him of “great judgments which were coming upon the earth, with great desolations by famine, sword and pestilence.” Here we find one who meets the challenge of the seven-headed beast (13:4) of whom it is said “who is like unto the beast? Who is able to make war with him?”
(4) Another thing which should attract special attention is the fact that the angel did not himself preach the gospel, but “had” it to preach. As it may have been noticed from the story of Joseph Smith, he was not permitted to get the record containing the fullness of the gospel at once. He was put under probation for four years, and was warned that if his motive was other than to glorify God and build his kingdom he was unable to obtain the record. In its every detail, the story of the experience of Joseph Smith fits the prophecy of Revelation with great precision. (George A. Njeim, Insights into the Book of Revelation: As Illuminated by the Book of Mormon [Lawrence, Kans.: George A. Njeim, 1970], 153-54)
The possibility that Rev 14:6-7 was fulfilled, at least partially, through the Angel Moroni’s role in its coming forth through the Prophet Joseph Smith is plausible, the protestations of Ron Rhodes and other critics notwithstanding.
Appendix: Margaret Barker
on Rev 14:6
The
work of Methodist scholar Margaret Barker might shed some further light
on this. I say might as the following rests on something I disagree
with: that the book of Revelation was not originally composed in Greek but
instead, translated from a Semitic language into Greek. Barker’s position on
this and many others (e.g., her pre-70 dating of Revelation) I think are
problematic, so caveat lector with the following:
. . . in 14.6 the angel brings an 'eternal gospel for every nation,
tribe, tongue and people', and he commands the people of the earth to worship
the creator because the Day of the LORD has come. That these verses were
originally in Hebrew can be seen from the fact that the phrase 'all the
inhabitants of the earth' has been translated over-literally into Greek by kathemenous,
those set, or settlers, rather than the expected katoikountes, dwellers.
The LXX of Jeremiah 25.29 [LXX: Jer 32:29] makes the same literal
translation of the Hebrew yšb, literally 'settle', but idiomatic Hebrew
for 'dwell'. This in itself is not a significant detail and does not affect the
meaning, but it does offer the possibility that other Hebrew words may have
suffered in translation from a written text. Thus 'an eternal gospel' would
have been written in the same letters as 'a hidden gospel', bśrt 'lm,
although the words would have been pronounced differently. The angel of 14.6
was probably proclaiming 'a hidden gospel' to the whole world, corresponding to
'the mystery' of God proclaimed by the angel in 10.7. Peter described the good
news (gospel) as a mystery, 'things into which angels long to look', but which
had been 'preached through the Holy Spirit from heaven' (1 Pet. 1.12). Thus in
both 10.7 and 14.7 the angel speaks of the mystery/hidden good news about to be
revealed to the whole world. The hour of judgement has come. (Margaret Barker, The
Revelation of Jesus Christ Which God Gave to Him to Show to His Servants What
Must Soon Take Place (Revelation 1.1) [Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 2000], 248,
comment in square brackets added for clarification)
As we know,
the Book of Mormon was a hidden record that contained the fullness of the
gospel; it was a 'hidden gospel' until Moroni came to reveal it.
