Revelation 13:13 plainly tells of a counterfeit religious revival that will sweep across the world. The “fire from heaven” represents a deceptive movement designed to convince humanity that God endorses it. The fire on Mount Carmel demonstrated the true power of God, but now the beast will attempt to imitate that miracle, making it appear as though Heaven supports his program.

While the world unites under the image of the beast, God’s faithful people will unite under the power of the Holy Spirit and will finish the great work of proclaiming the gospel to every nation. The angel of prophecy should fill our hearts with confidence in our great God, assuring us that His final message will rapidly penetrate the inhabitable globe. Take careful notice of the details in this statement:

“A great religious awakening under the proclamation of Christ’s soon coming is foretold in . . . Revelation 14. An angel is seen flying ‘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.’ ‘With a loud voice’ he proclaims the message: ‘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.’ Verses 6, 7.

“The fact that an angel is said to be the herald of this warning is significant. By the purity, the glory, and the power of the heavenly messenger, divine wisdom has been pleased to represent the exalted character of the work to be accomplished by the message and the power and glory that were to attend it. And the angel’s flight ‘in the midst of heaven,’ the ‘loud voice’ with which the warning is uttered, and its promulgation to all ‘that dwell on the earth,’—‘to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,’—give evidence of the rapidity and world-wide extent of the movement.” Christ in His Sanctuary, 117.