Daily Devotional

Yesterday’s verse referred to the beginning of the judgment, which, as we have learned, started in 1844. Notice that this portion of the judgment began before Christ’s advent; it is therefore often called the “pre-advent judgment” or the “investigative judgment.”

In today’s verse, we skip briefly ahead to the time of the seventh trumpet. While the sixth trumpet marks the beginning of something, the seventh trumpet marks the end, the end of “the mystery of God.” This beloved “mystery” is the totality of God’s amazing plan of salvation for all humanity: that we can, through the blood of Christ, be recreated perfectly in His image and likewise be “received up in glory” (1 Timothy 3:16). These “are the riches of the glory of this mystery: … Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27).

In other words, this verse signals the close of what began in the sixth trumpet, “the hour of judgment” (Revelation 14:7). We are living in the time of the sixth trumpet, the time when the Judge of all the earth has called the court to order and has opened the records (Daniel 7:9, 10) and “will bring every work into judgment” (Ecclesiastes 12:14). This is the hour when every case is being decided for “good or evil,” when the question will finally be answered: Was “the mystery of God” fulfilled in you?

“The time is near” (Revelation 1:3), but there is still what is left of “the hour” (14:7); there still remains some “days” (10:7)—though not many. Why is God highlighting this? It is because He desires most of all to save every person He can.

What is our trumpet call in these final days? If the early Adventists were already heralding the midnight call, how much more urgently should we be? There’s now even less time before Christ’s advent. There’s nothing left to be fulfilled except that. For believers, the imperative is clear: Tell the world “the everlasting gospel” (14:6) that everyone might receive Jesus as their Savior.

Lord Jesus, as much as we want You to come back, we want to share Your heart for the lost that we might usher in the completion of the mystery of God.

For Further Study: Amos 3:7; Acts 3:21; Ephesians 3:3–9