If there was one message that would define the Seventh Day Adventist people it would be this one.
Yet if you asked most Adventist what this message is few would be able to tell you.
I would say for myself when I hear the Three Angels Message I think of the Judgment Hour Message.
In Adventism this message has sometimes been used to scare people into the faith much like the Hell message has been used amongst many other Christian faiths.
Joining the church you hear about the Three Angels Messages but many rarely ever tell you what it is.
It's a logo on the wall, it's a TV Channel, it's seen in our magazines and literature but you are kinda left to your own ideas of what it all means.
At least it was that way for me.
After joining the church and hearing from some of the third or fourth generations of Advent children they speak of times when this message was used against them in order for them to behave.
The books ae being opened and anything you do is being recorded there and God will judge you on everything you did.
That is a scary message and it scared me once I heared it but after studying this message for myself I don't see that kind of message.
Yes you should be afraid if you are lost but if you are saved this is a message of hope and salvation.
Dan 7:18 "But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever."
Dan 7:22 "Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom."
Remember the scene we see in Revelation four and five, the angels are the ones attending the opening of these books and they are shown the history of the world and who is coming to heaven.
There in His open hand lay the book, the roll of the history of God's providences, the prophetic history of nations and the church. Herein was contained the divine utterances, His authority, His commandments, His laws, the whole symbolic counsel of the Eternal, and the history of all ruling powers in the nations. In symbolic language was contained in that roll the influence of every nation, tongue, and people from the beginning of earth's history to its close. {9MR 7.2}
This judgment is in favor of the saints, this is a message of hope, this is a message that accepting Christ he will save you from your sins and give you eternal life.
That is not scary, that is so great of a message of salvation that we can trust and be apart of.