Thursday: Truth Triumphant
Daily Lesson for Thursday 9th of May 2024
Despite the attacks of the enemy, God’s work on earth will come to a glorious climax. The gospel will be preached to “every nation, tribe, tongue, and people” (Revelation 14:6, NKJV). The great controversy between Christ and Satan will end with Christ completely defeating the powers of hell. God’s kingdom will triumph over evil, and sin will be eradicated forever from the universe.
Image © Phil McKay at Goodsalt.com
Revelation 11 begins with Satan’s attempt through the French Revolution to destroy the Christian faith and eradicate belief in God, but the chapter ends with the triumph of God’s kingdom over the principalities and powers of evil. It provides encouragement to all who go through fiery trials for the cause of Christ and His truth.
Read Revelation 11:15-18. According to these verses, what events take place at the close of time when the seventh trumpet sounds?
The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord. Christ is victorious. Evil is defeated. Jesus wins and Satan loses. Righteousness triumphs. Truth reigns. We would do well to heed the following instruction: “Whatever is built upon the authority of man will be overthrown; but that which is founded upon the rock of God’s immutable word shall stand forever.”—Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, p. 288.
Read Revelation 11:19. What did John see opened in heaven? And what did he see as he looked up into heaven?
The temple of God in heaven was opened to John’s view. As he gazed into the Most Holy Place, he saw the ark of the covenant. In the Old Testament sanctuary, which was a type patterned after the great original in heaven, the glorious presence of God was revealed between the two angelic figures fashioned on the cover of the ark of the covenant. Within the ark was the law of God. Although we are saved by grace alone through faith, obedience to God’s law reveals whether our faith is genuine. The law of God is the basis or the standard of judgment (James 2:12). This fact becomes especially important and relevant at the end of time (see Revelation 12:17, Revelation 14:12).
How does the striking contrast between the godlessness of the French Revolution and the glorious climax pictured in Revelation 11:1-19 speak to us today?
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I want to digress from the lesson to mention the Huguenots of France and to better understand the French revolution. The Huguenots made up the majority of French protestantism and were most active in the 1500s and 1600s. They were essentially Calvantistic Protestants and were persecuted by the Papacy. This included massacres initiated by the Louis kings of that time. By the same token, the Huguenots, where they had control would persecute the Catholics, closing monestries and killing priests and nuns.
Many of the Huguenots were people of influence in the community and the conflict was often more political than religious. During the 1600s and early 1700s as a result of persecution, many of them migrated from France to Holland, America and South Africa. By the time of the French revolution the Huguenots were no longer a significant part of the French nation.
While Protestants were involved as individuals in the activities of the Revolution, there was no Protestant group as such. The Reign of Terror Dechristianisation period lasted from September 1793 to July 1794 and did not greatly affect protestants. Their worship activities were suppressed at the time as was all religious activity but ultimately, after Robespierre’s death on 27 July, 1794, churches were reopened and freedom to worship was proclaimed.
Perhaps it is worth noting that circumstances had led to a diaspora of French Protestantism before the Revolution took place.
I'm not understanding your comment that there really wasn't any protestant group by the time of the French Revolution. Could you please explain this statement in light of the St. Bartholomew Massacre?
The St Bartholomew Day Massacre took place in 1572 while the French Revolution occurred in the perion 1789-1799. These two events were separated by over two centuries. By the time of the French Revolution the French Protestant diaspora had taken place. There were protestants in France at the time of the Revolution but they were not specifically targeted as a group.
History is definitely not my strength, but I understand that "not many Protestants were affected by the "reign of terror" in France. The Protestants had been systematically eliminated by the combination of church and state for several hundred years before this.
I apologize for referring to the St. Bartholomew's Massacre in the context of the French Revolution without clarifying that this happened 200 years earlier. This likely led to some confusion by our readers.
Revelation 11 refers to the place "where also our Lord was crucified," and I believe that this massacre, along with other acts of terror performed in the name of God was part of France's "crucifying our Lord" before the time of the French Revolution.
I have updated my post, The The Two Witnesses Revisited, to more accurately reflect the chronology of events.
"Their worship activities were suppressed at the time as was all religious activity but ultimately, after Robespierre’s death on 27 July, 1794, churches were reopened and freedom to worship was proclaimed."
How do you reconcile this with the statement in the Lesson: "Revelation 11:9 says that the bodies of God’s two witnesses would lie unburied for “three-and-a-half days” (NKJV), i.e., prophetic “days” representing three and a half literal years. Atheism was at its height in the French Revolution, at least for about three and a half years. This period extended from November 26, 1793, when a decree issued in Paris abolished religion, to June 17, 1797, when the French government removed its restrictive religious laws."
I was giving a perspective on the French Revolution and how it related to Protestantism in France at the time. I was not trying to reconcile the events with prophecy. I will leave it to the reader to do that.
Partly, the issue I was addressing is that the Protestant persecution and the French Revolution are not the same event and were separated by some 100s of years. There has been a tendency by some to put the two events together.
We're coming to the apex of the Great Controversy. Knowing that the end is near, evil does whatever possible to take souls with him. But Jesus already paid the price for everyone's life at the cross. Thus, God provides us with continuous freedom of choice in His infinite mercy! Let us be wise and boldly choose the way to eternal life.
It becomes ever clearer to me that all the Scriptures want to convey and demonstrate is that our Creator God wants to re-instate mankind's eligibility to receive Eternal Life. All spiritual Truth shared with mankind is meant to eventually lead us to the awareness that this body of flesh is only capable of destroying that which was meant for good, and that our Creator Father offers us to be born again - receiving a new nature capable to love Him and our fellow man.
Trusting the cleansing taking placer when living according to the Spirit of the Ten Commandments, the offer of Salvation by Grace through Faith, the humbling of oneself to acknowledge the shortcomings and wrongdoings prompted by trusting in the wisdom of the flesh - true repentance finally opens the way to truly love God and His Son with all our being; He is our Rescuer!
Unwavering faith in God's Word when facing retribution for walking in the Way of the God of Creation and His Son Jesus Christ is a test not many in our day and time have to endure.
I pray and look forward to the Ecclesia’s ranks being filled with a great multitude of new believers having accepted their conviction by the Holy Spirit’s power to stand firm in their faith, believing that our struggles are worth the price – Eternal Life!