Revelation 14:1-20

Image “Harvesting Lambrusco grapes” is by snoopsmaus; shared under CC License 2.0.

Let’s remember chapter Fourteen’s theme —

We must not allow current events in space and time to rob us of the fact that Christ, and we in Him, have already triumphed.

The Structure of the two Visions in Revelation 14:14-20

[1] The harvest of the grain symbolizes the gathering of the church for salvation 
[2] the grape harvest portrays the gathering of the wicked for destruction.
(see Johnson, D. E, below; emphasis mine.)

Let’s continue to see how the final judgment gives us as Christians stability in the present while awaiting the Second Coming of Christ. 

I. God’s decrees are enforced despite the opposition of the powerful. vss 17-18

Vss. 17 Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. 18 And another angel came out from the altar, the angel who has authority over the fire, and he called with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, “Put in your sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, for its grapes are ripe.” 

Many think, “I see evil prosper all around me, and I live according to God’s Word. When will I get justice?

The Psalmist in Psalm 37 observes this —

34 Wait for the Lord and keep his way, and he will exalt you to inherit the land; you will look on when the wicked are cut off.
35 I have seen a wicked, ruthless man, spreading himself like a green laurel tree.
36 But he passed away, and behold, he was no more; though I sought him, he could not be found.

Robert Murray McCheyne (1813 – 1843) was Scottish pastor and hymn writer. One of my favorites of his is “I am a Debtor.” The first and third verses  have always been favorites for me. (Many more verses make up the hymn as written by McCheyne.) The verse usually omitted deals with the final judgment —

2
When I hear the wicked call
On the rocks and hills to fall,
When I see them start and shrink
On the fiery deluge brink, –
Then, Lord, shall I fully know –
Not till then – how much I owe.

The world’s only hope is in Christ! No one can put off making this commitment to Him as Lord and Savior. There will be date when this offer will expire when Christ removes Christians in a harvest and then gathers the wicked to suffer His wrath in the wine press of His justice at the Last Judgment.

Left is a woodcut of both sections of Revelation 14:16-20, by Hans Leonhard Schäufelein (1480-1540) CCommons CC0 1.0

Now the imagery shifts from grain harvest to the harvest of the grapes. John uses these images to describe the one reality of the final judgment of the world. The Old Testament provides the source for this imagery (Isaiah 63:1-6; Lam. 1:15; Joel 3:13).

John describes this as another (allos) angel of the same kind as the others. This angel had, literally, “authority over the fire.” This angel differs somewhat from the previous three. He comes “from (ek) the altar.” This is the altar of incense before the throne of God on which the prayers of believers are offered up for answer. After what seems to us as a long delay, Jesus Christ will return for His own people and judge the wicked. The prayers of the suffering church in Rev. 6:9-11 are answered. 

9 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne.
10 They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”
11 Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.

II. God will cause those who’ve persecuted His people to receive just retribution in the end.

R. G. Lee (1886 – 1978) was the pastor at Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis from 1927-1960. He…was called “a veritable paragon of excellence in the preparation and delivery of sermons,” by W. A. Criswell. His most famous sermon is “Payday Someday.” He is said to have preached it over 1200 times across the country. (see Famous Sermons, below). 

When I came to Edgefield in 1989, I met people who had lived there all their lives. I mentioned to Mr. Frank Timmerman that I knew the famous preacher R. G. Lee once served as pastor of First Baptist Church in Edgefield [EFBC]. I said I had heard on the radio Lee’s most famous sermon, “Payday Someday.”

Mr. Timmerman acknowledged that what I told him was so. In fact, Lee pastored EFBC from 1918 to 1921 (after graduating from Furman University, in Geenville, SC, magna cum laude in 1913). He then proceeded to tell a story from Lee’s ministry in Edgefield that I didn’t know. (I have found if you tell stories, people will share stories with you.) (see Lee, R. G. below.)

R. G. Lee had written the sermon “Payday Someday” while he was in Edgefield in 1919. A man only identified to me as Mr. Norris attended a Wednesday Evening Prayer Meeting where Lee delivered the famous sermon for the first time. Old Mr. Norris then made a “prophetic” statement to Lee, “That was a good sermon, R. G.! If you work on it, it could be a great sermon!” What a positive encouragement to a young pastor who went on to be a very famous preacher! How many preachers are crushed by a church not wanting his sound preaching.

Here is a brief excerpt — “Did God mean what He said, or was He playing a prank on royalty? Did pay-day come? “Pay-day—Someday” is written in the constitution of God’s universe. The retributive providence of God is a reality as certainly as the laws of gravitation are a reality. And to Ahab and Jezebel, pay-day came as certainly as night follows day, because sin carries in itself the seed of its own fatal penalty. (see Famous Sermons, below.)

What we witness in John’s vision in Revelation Chapter 14 is “Payday that Day.” Remunerative justice comes to God’s people as Christ gathers the grain harvest. Retributive justice falls on the wicked who have opposed God and His people. 

“Flying Angel in Prague” image taken 2016 by Pampuco;
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International License

III. God’s delays are not God’s denials — God’s wrath falling on the wicked is certain! vss. 19-20 

When Does God Settle His Accounts?

The story is told of a farmer in a Midwestern state who had a strong disdain for God. As he plowed his field on Sunday morning, he would shake his fist at the church people who passed by on their way to worship. October came and the farmer had his finest crop ever—the best in the entire county. When the harvest was complete, he placed an advertisement in the local paper which belittled the Christians for their faith in God.

Near the end of his diatribe he wrote, “Faith in God must not mean much if someone like me can prosper.” The response from the Christians in the community was quiet and polite. In the next edition of the town paper, a small ad appeared. It read simply, “God doesn’t always settle His accounts in October.” (see Settling Accounts, below.)

In vss. 19-20, God settles His accounts. He pays wrath to those who have rejected His ways and unjustly persecuted His people.

vs. 19 So the angel swung his sickle across the earth and gathered the grape harvest of the earth and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.  [ESV]

The imagery of this verse is from Isaiah 63. The phrase “winepress of God’s wrath” means the winepress “which is the wrath of God.”

Woodcut by John Bale (1545); author MVT_555
image is in the public domain

vs. 20 And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress, as high as a horse’s bridle, for 1,600 stadia.

This seems to be a reference to Armageddon. John collects all of the anti-God forces together and merges them into one symbol. Later he will call it “Babylon.” The forces will be judged by a power that is outside of their territory. The battle is fierce and bloody. It is obvious that the imagery is not intended to be taken literally. It is supposed to strike terror in those who are unrepentant.

We must flee from the wrath to come by embracing Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Many of us did this years back, but it helps to continuously to keep this eternal truth before our minds as evil abounds and good seems to be deserted.

Next time Chapter 15.

Notes

(I list commentaries on which I rely sometimes without direct quotation.)

Beale, G. K. (2015). Revelation: a Shorter Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. Kindle Edition.

ESV. (2001). Accessed 24 June 2020 from https://www.biblegateway.com

Famous Sermons. (2018). “Payday Someday by RG Lee.” Accessed 16 December 2020 from https://sbchistory.com/blog/2018/07/07/famous-sermons-payday-someday-by-rg-lee/

Hendriksen, William. More Than Conquerors: An Interpretation of the Book of Revelation. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (p. 125).

Johnson, A. F. (1982). Revelation in Expositor’s Bible Commentary, ed. Gaebelein. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

Johnson, D. E. (2001). Triumph of the Lamb: A Commentary on Revelation. Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishers. Kindle Edition.

Kenner, C. (2000). The NIV Application Commentary: Revelation. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic

Lee, R. G. (n.d.). “The Life of Dr. R. G. Lee.” Accessed 16 December 2020 from https://www.uu.edu/library/archives/collections/lee.cfm

Lowell, J. R. (1844). “The Present Crisis”; accessed 15 December 2020 from https://poets.org/poem/present-crisis

Morris, Leon. (1987). Revelation in Tyndale New Testament Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

Settling Accounts. (2002). From 10,000 Sermon Illustrations. Galaxie Software. Accessed 16 December 2020 from https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/78979/when-does-god-settle-accounts-by-sermoncentral
Note: I have used this story since I first read it in Our Daily Bread devotional. When I first want into the ministry, more than 44 years ago, I used stories like this to help me learn how to use illustrations in a sermon. Later, I had many stories from my own life experience I could introduce material of my own. 

WikiMedia Commons for Images

© 2020 C. Richard Barbare All Rights Reserved

Revelation 14:14-16

Image above by Gustave Dore, 1866, from Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

Chapter Fourteen’s theme is —

We must not allow current events in space and time to rob us of the fact that Christ, and we in Him, have already triumphed!

Let’s remember —

The Structure of the two Visions in Revelation 14:14-20

[1] The harvest of the grain symbolizes the gathering of the church for salvation
[2] the grape harvest portrays the gathering of the wicked for destruction.
(see Johnson, D. E, below; emphasis mine.)

Let’s see how the final judgment gives us stability in the present while awaiting the Second Coming of Christ. 

I. Christ, the executor of judgment, may seem slow in setting things to right, but He is on time according to His plan.

vs. 14 Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and seated on the cloud one like a son of man, with a golden crown on his head, and a sharp sickle in his hand.

There has been a great deal of speculation as to the identity of “the one on the cloud.” (1) Some identify the figure as Christ himself. (2) Others identify him as a mighty angel. John gives us some clues as to the figure’s identity —

(a) the figure is “like a (or “the”) son of man. The symbolism in the verses is from Daniel 7:9-14 The phrase is used of Jesus in Rev. 1:13. In this context, the phrase would be interpreted as “a son of man”; in other words, the figure was “like a human being”;
(b) the figure had a victor’s crown (stephanos) on his head (see picture above left from WikiMedia Commons);
(c) the figure had a sickle in his hand with which to reap the harvest.

II. God the Father has a comprehensive plan for what happens to His people in time and space and in eternity.

vs. 15 And another angel came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, “Put in your sickle, and reap, for the hour to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is fully ripe.” 

The angel in this verse is said to be another (allos) angel. Allos means “another of the same kind.” The second angel conveys a Divine message from the throne-room of God, to the one sitting on the cloud to reap the harvest. This is in keeping with Jesus’ status as the Messiah —  

“Christ must be informed by God [the Father] about the time for judgment to begin, since “of that day or that hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone” (Mark 13:32; Acts 1:7). “Angels in Revelation never announce a message which has its ultimate derivation from themselves, but are always mere conveyors of messages representing the divine will.” (see Beale, page 310, below.)

This illustrates what theologians call the Economic Trinity —

In one sense, the Son and the Father are identical. In another sense, they are distinguished. From all eternity, within the ontological Trinity, the Father begets the Son, and the Son is begotten of the Father. From all eternity, God also freely decrees the salvation of yet to be created human beings in what theologians refer to as the “covenant of redemption.” (see Sproul, below.)

Image from DeYoung’s Blog

In simple terms, the covenant of redemption — or in Latin, the pactum salutis — refers to the eternal agreement between the Father and the Son to save a people chosen in Christ before the ages began. In slightly more detail, Louis Berkhof describes the covenant of redemption as “the agreement between the Father, giving the Son as Head and Redeemer of the elect, and the Son, voluntarily taking the place of those whom the Father had given him.” (see DeYoung, below).

John 5:19-23 sheds a great deal of light on our passage —

19 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.
20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel.
21 For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will.
22 For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son,
23 that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. [ESV]

Image licensed under the CC BY-NC:
by “Fir0002/Flagstaffotos”. “Crepscular rays”

The person on the cloud is Jesus Christ. See Daniel 7 —

13 “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him.
14 And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.

The Messiah is here called the Son of man; he was made in the likeness of sinful flesh, and was found in fashion as a man, but he is the Son of God. [see Henry, below] 

The second angel, is said to “come out of the temple.” He announces God the Father’s decree.

The word for “temple” is naos — inner “sanctuary” versus the entire temple complex (hieron) as we have seen previously in our studies of the Revelation. The phrase “the time to reap” is literally ”the hour to reap” (a comparable phrase used in John’s Gospel). It is not just a seasonal thing. There is an appointed time for that harvest to begin. Note also that the verb “ripe” (exerainō) means ”overripe,” or “withered.” The time to bring judgment on the earth for the crimes that had been committed against God’s people has long been past.

III. Believers are taken out of this world before the wrath of God falls on an ungodly world. 

vs. 16 So he who sat on the cloud swung his sickle across the earth, and the earth was reaped.

Jesus Christ gathers in His own people. The word “harvested” (etheristhē) is used only once in the Greek NT. The Lord himself used the harvest as a symbol of the final judgment of the world. See Matthew 13:30, 38-39.

30 Let both [wheat and tares] grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, “Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.”
38 The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels.

Image from Pinterest.

The timing of the Second Coming brought a piece of poetry to mind —

Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide,
In the strife of Truth with Falsehood, for the good or evil side;
Some great cause, God’s new Messiah, offering each the bloom or blight,
Parts the goats upon the left hand, and the sheep upon the right,
And the choice goes by forever ‘twixt that darkness and that light.

Careless seems the great Avenger; history’s pages but record
One death-grapple in the darkness ‘twixt old systems and the Word;
Truth forever on the scaffold, Wrong forever on the throne, —
Yet that scaffold sways the future, and, behind the dim unknown,
Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above his own.
(see Lowell, below; emphasis mine.)

John 17:11-12 assures us no matter what goes on around us we are secure in Christ! We might think sometime that there is no praying for us. We must not forget Jesus is praying for us!

11 And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. [ESV; emphasis mine.]

Next time, The winepress of the wrath of God.

Notes
(Commentaries on which I rely without direct quotation) 

Beale, G. K. (2015). Revelation: a Shorter Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. Kindle Edition.

DeYoung, K. (2019). “Theological Primer: Pactum Salutis.” Accessed 16 December 2020 from https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevin-deyoung/theological-primer-pactum-salutis/

ESV. (2001). Accessed 24 June 2020 from https://www.biblegateway.com

Hendriksen, William. More Than Conquerors: An Interpretation of the Book of Revelation. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (p. 125).

Henry, M. (1708–10). Exposition of the Old and New Testaments. Accessed 16 December 202 from https://biblehub.com/commentaries/daniel/7-13.htm

Johnson, A. F. (1982). Revelation in Expositor’s Bible Commentary, ed. Gaebelein. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

Johnson, D. E. (2001). Triumph of the Lamb: A Commentary on Revelation. Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishers. Kindle Edition.

Kenner, C. (2000). The NIV Application Commentary: Revelation. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic

Lowell, J. R. (1844). “The Present Crisis”; accessed 15 December 2020 from https://poets.org/poem/present-crisis

Morris, Leon. (1987). Revelation in Tyndale New Testament Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

Sproul, R. C. (2014). “What’s the Difference between the Ontological and the Economic Trinity?” Accessed 15 December 2020 from https://www.ligonier.org/blog/whats-difference-between-ontological-and-economic-trinity/

WikiMedia Commons for Images

© 2020 C. Richard Barbare All Rights Reserved

Revelation 14:6-8

Featured Image above is “Angel of the Revelation” by William Blake, circa 1805. The image is in the public domain from WikiMedia Commons.

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An integral part of the Gospel message involves —
(1) judgment for the earth-dwellers;
(2) salvaion for believers.

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Hendriksen’s Story about Waiting until It’s too late

“The first angel is sent to those who “sit on the earth.” That characterizes men in general on the eve of the judgment: they sit on earth. They are easy-going, indifferent, unconcerned, listless, and careless.

Think of the artist who found a convenient spot on top of an ocean rock from which to paint the beauty of the village and its surroundings. He is altogether unaware of the fact that the returning tide is surging about the base of the rock. So absorbed is he in his painting that he pays no attention to the lashing of the waves against the rock. He fails to heed the warning voices. He just sits and sits, absorbed in his painting. By and by the waves will bury him.” (see Hendriksen, p. 153, below.)

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Let’s see how God will bring abut about His two-fold work of judgment and salvation.

I. The “good news” is for everyone, but has a use-by date on it.

vs. 6 Then I saw another angel flying directly overhead, with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people.

Angels are spirits and are usually invisible, but they appeared in material form to deliver God’s messages in the Old Testament—cf. Acts 7:53 “You…received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.” Galatians 3:19 “Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an Intermediary (Mediator = Christ). John Calvin says of this verse, “[Paul’s] meaning is, that the angels were the messengers of God, and his witnesses in publishing the law, [in order] that the authority thereof might be firm and stable.”  (see Calvin below; ESV)

This is the gospel as we know it and find it in the  Word of God, that is described here in this verse. There is not a different gospel for different times. The message involves judgment. This is a necessary part of the gospel. The good news is directed toward the saints in this case. It will be good news when the nations who oppose God are judged. Individuals can repent and be saved, but at this point, it will be too late for those whose heart is hardened by following the beast. The proclamation by an angel is indeed unusual. However, the Law was mediated through angels (cf. Acts 7:38; Heb. 2:2), and it is not unusual to find them speaking for God.

“The three angels of verses 6, 8, and 9 belong together. They have one purpose, namely to warn mankind with respect to the coming judgment in order that men may turn to God in true faith.” (see Hendriksen, p. 153, below).

Isaiah declares that God’s salvation is for the present time, and one should not wait.

55:6 “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; 7 let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.”

There will be time when it’s too late to seek the Lord. His day of grace and forgiveness is no longer offered.

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When I was younger, my pastor told me a story I’ve never forgotten. A man was sharing his testimony about receiving Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. After he finished with his testimony, he urged the man to repent of his sins and believe in Christ. The man replied, “Not now. I’ll do it later.” The pastor said, “Tomorrow isn’t promised. Do it now before it’s too late.” The man retorted, “It’s never too late. Remember the thief on the cross!” The pastor asked, “Which one?”

Two thieves were crucified, but one only responded positively to Jesus Christ on the center cross. It wasn’t too late for him, but when death came, it was to late for the other thief. He died in the sins.

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II. The only safety in times of judgment comes from receiving Jesus as Lord and Savior.

vs. 7 And he said with a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come, and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.”

The essence of O.T. faith is “the fear of the Lord.” It involves two aspects:

1. fear of punishment; the immature response of a child.
2. fear of marring a relationship; the mature response of an adult. 

The angel is calling men to faith in God. He calls upon men to shift their ascription of glory from man and his abilities to God the Creator. “Has come” is the past tense of the Greek verb — so certain it is put in the past tense even though it is future. Proverbs 29: 25 warns us of the danger of fearing a person or groups of persons more than we fear God — “The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe.” Matthew 10:28 states this warning too — “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”

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III. That God will bring judgment on this world system is absolutely certain.

vs. 8 Another angel, a second, followed, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who made all nations drink the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality.”

According to Daniel 5:1-31, King Belshazzar of Babylon takes sacred golden and silver vessels from the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem by his predecessor Nebuchadnezzar. Using these holy items, the King and his court praise ‘the gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone’. Immediately, the disembodied fingers of a human hand appear and write on the wall of the royal palace the Aramaic words “MENE”, “MENE”, “TEKEL”, “UPHARSIN,” Mene = “God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end”; Tekel = “you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting”; 28 Peres = “your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.” ( Rembrandt’s “Belshassar’s Feast,” 1636-1638 in the public domain.)

The experience has been preserved in our modern proverb, “I see the handwriting on the wall.” So has this world and its system seen in Revelation 14 its handwriting on the wall! We as believers cannot cozy up to the world system in our day and build our lives on its principles.

This verse begins the “table of contents” of the rest of the book. It prefaces the very end. It tells us what will happen to this world system when the judgment of God falls upon it. “Fallen” is so certain that it is placed in the past tense. Babylon is symbolic of this world system which stands for the pride of man molded into a heathen city-empire opposed to the things of God. (see Morris, p. 180.)

The reason for the destruction is due to two things:

1. Babylon had an evil influence upon the whole world by leading the nations away from God to immorality with substitutes — idols, etc.
2. Babylon has brought the wrath of God down upon her for her sin.

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IV. People decide judgment or salvation depending on their allegiance either to beast or to God.

vs. 9 And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand,
vs. 10 he also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. 

I have heard people say, “You have to go along to get along.” I also read in God’s Word Matthew’s Gospel about two ways to go in life —

13 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”

Public domain image. “The Broad and Narrow Gates,” by Paul Beckmann ca. 1866, from an idea and commission by Charlotte Reihlen. On the left, a big fancy arch leads to sin. On the right, a small gate for plainer folk leads to a fountain and a cross. (full painting is available from this link. 

John uses two words for “wrath” here —

1. thymos – passionate outburst of anger;
2. orgē – anger from a more settled disposition.

The usual word for divine wrath is orgē. However, thymos is used appropriately here because it is time for the divine fury. The angel describes the “reward” of the beast worshipers — judgment and torment. The drinking from the cup describes what will happen in time — when the wrath of God is poured out in the bowls. The tormenting with fire and sulfur will occur in eternity. The practice of mixing wine with water and spices is referred to in verse 10. The wrath in the cup is undiluted. Compare Isaiah 51:22, 23 for the image of the cup of wrath.

vs. 11 And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.”

The “time” period covered by the torment is eternity. There is no doubt that there is to be eternal punishment for the wicked. There is no hint of annihilation here.

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V. The only safety for God’s people lies in patient persistence in their trust in Jesus Christ!

vss. 12 Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. 13 And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!”

“Perseverance” is an active bearing up under the pressure of trials. Obedience and faith characterize the people of God. God’s people persevere because they know that he will judge the wicked.

Jesus is the only light in a very dark world. Image “Adoration of the Shepherds”
by Matthias Stomer ca. 1650′ Public domain image from WikiMedia Commons.

It is difficult to know where to connect the phrase “from now on” (ap’ arti). Some MSS omit “yes” (nai). This would allow ap’ arti to go with either the preceding phrase or the following phrase. The reading should probably be, “from henceforth, says the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors.” They had been laboring and suffering. From now on, they will rest.

Kopos means “to labor to the point of exhaustion.” Ergon is “work,” but does not carry the meaning of “painstaking labor.”

I often have paraphrased verse 13 at the burial of a saint of God who had been faithful to Christ through many trials. “Rest peacefully, valiant warrior, your works follow you and your Lord’s reward awaits you!”

The Christian life is a difficult one especially when rewards on earth go to the folks on the broad way and not to those on the narrow way. But, Oh, the destination makes it worth all the trouble! 

Next time, the Harvest of the earth.

Notes
(Commentaries on which I rely without direct quotation) 

Beale, G. K. (2015). Revelation: a Shorter Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. Kindle Edition.

Calvin, J. (1548). Commentary on Galatians and Ephesians. Accessed 10 December 2020 from https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom41.html

ESV. (2001). Accessed 24 June 2020 from https://www.biblegateway.com

Hendriksen, William. More Than Conquerors: An Interpretation of the Book of Revelation. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (p. 125).

Johnson, A. F. (1982). Revelation in Expositor’s Bible Commentary, ed. Gaebelein. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

Johnson, D. E. (2001). Triumph of the Lamb: A Commentary on Revelation. Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishers. Kindle Edition.

Kenner, C. (2000). The NIV Application Commentary: Revelation. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic.

Morris, Leon. (1987). Revelation in Tyndale New Testament Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

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© 2020 C. Richard Barbare All Rights Reserved

 

Revelation 14:1-5

The image above is “144,000 with Trumpets, 1860 woodcut by Julius Schnorr von Karolsfeld” from WikiMedia Commons Public Domain

In Revelation 14-15 we are taken to a new set of visions that recapitulate the age from the resurrection/ascension of our Lord to His Second Coming. Only now, the focus is more one the very end of the age. We have adopted the viewpoint of progressive parallelism. Each new set of visions traverse the same ground, but with each we focus more on the end.

I remember a story from Our Daily Bread devotional I read in the past. A son from the congregation had returned as a fresh seminary graduate. He was asked to preach for his home church on the next Sunday. The church was crowded and, though no one noticed, the custodian slipped in at the back and sat to listen to the “lad” he had seen grow up. The newly minted graduate wanted to impress his church, so he preached on the Book of Revelation. He asked the congregation what the message of the book was. After an uncomfortable silence of a minute, the old custodian said aloud, “We done won!”

That is the message of the book of Revelation in a nutshell! We must think and act like victors, not pose  victims! We have already won even though the battlefield is still being cleared of enemy combatants who are beaten but not yet vanquished from the field. As we begin this new section I see a truth we need at this very hour!

We must not allow current events in space and time to rob us of the fact that Christ, and we in Him, have already triumphed.

Let’s see what comfort God gives to his people by assuring them of His victory over all Satan’s forces!

I. God can and does bring His people through all persecution and suffering.

vs. 1 Then I looked, and behold, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads.

This 144,000 is the same group which was sealed in chapter 7 before the persecution began. Here in chapter 14, the same group is viewed after they have safely passed through persecution. Alan F. Johnson points out, “A glance back at chapter 7 reminds us that there the 144,000 were merely sealed; here, however, they are seen as already delivered.” (see A. F. Johnson, below).

They have not lost one of their number sealed before the persecutions began. The group is the entire Church viewed from the standpoint of an exact number. God knows those who are his. He makes sure that they pass through any and all tribulations in this life without being lost. Developing nations today are keenly aware that God brings His people though tribulation. He does not exempt them from persecution. See World Watch Map below.

Persecution map of the church in the world-over.
Open Doors UK found at https://www.opendoorsuk.org/

Mount Zion is a reference to the dwelling place of God. Three interpretations of this symbol have been offered—

(1) the literal hills around the Jerusalem area
(2) in the prophetic tradition of the Old Testament, Mount Zion became a symbol of the place where the Messiah would gather to himself the great company of the redeemed
(3) it may simply be a figurative way of saying that the saints are secure in the Lord

It seems to me that a combination of 2 & 3 is best. The Lord will gather his people to himself, both all along during this age, and at the end. The saints have been resurrected just prior to the pouring out of the wrath of God and are safe with Him. He is poised to return in glory and execute his judgment.

They have the seal of ownership marking them as God’s property. This is in contrast to the mark of the beast in chapter 13. It is this seal which guarantees the protection of the saints while they are in this world.

Picture of Angel Falls in Venezuela the world’s tallest waterfall at 3,212 ft.
Wikipedia image by Diego Delso licensed under CC BY 3.0

II. While final judgment is being executed, the saints in heaven sing the high and holy praises of God.

vss. 2-3  2 And I heard a voice from heaven like the roar of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder. The voice I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps, 3 and they were singing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders. No one could learn that song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth.

If you have ever stood at the base of a great waterfall, you know how overwhelming the sound is. If the praise of heaven will drown out all clamor below on earth, why not drown it out now down here in praise to the Triune God! 

I have always had three pictures in the various studies at churches I have served—(1) Charles H. Spurgeon; (2) G. Campbell Morgan; and (3) D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones. “Doctor,” as Lloyd-Jones was known, was a physician who left his practice to preach the Gospel. He was pastor at Westminster Chapel, Buckingham Gate in London (1939-1968). His sermons were recorded live and the person recording taped the song before the sermon. Now, Doctor was not a musician, but the singing of that congregation is electric. Listen to a recording of “The Strife Is Over, the Battle Done.” The Doctor is exuberant if not in tune all the time (1:47).

That congregation was made up of 1500 persons in 1961 when this recording was made. I believe overpowering congregational singing is a little taste of heaven. 

The sound I heard was like that of harpists playing their harps. The harp is the first century equipment that aids those in this vision to praise God. Compare Rev. 5:8. The song comes from the 144,000 gathered safely in heaven. The angelic choirs in heaven have to sit this one out. They are in a learning mode since they have not been redeemed. See I Peter 1—

10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, 11 inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. 12 It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.

I read the section above in one church I served. I said, half jesting half serious, “Just think of the empty seats as occupied by the angels who are longing to learn of redemption.” At the door as I greeted the worshipers after the service, one elderly man replied, “It’s a shame we can’t pass the collection plate to the angels.”

I had intended the comment for the comfort of people who realized the church was small but fulfilled a greater purpose in God’s plan.  Ephesians 3 gives us more insight into the church’s ministry to angels.

8 To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9 and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things, 10 so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places [reference to the angels].

III. Though we may live in a sinful world now, a time will come when we and where we live will be pure.

Vss.  4 It is these who have not defiled themselves with women, for they are virgins. It is these who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These have been redeemed from mankind as firstfruits for God and the Lamb, 5 and in their mouth no lie was found, for they are blameless.

The picture is of the Church as the Bride of Christ as a chaste and pure Bride. It means that they have not been defiled by the whore of Babylon who is to be presented in chapter 17. The marriage is to happen in chapter 19. The bride of Christ comes to that marriage pure and undefiled. In the Old Testament adultery is a symbol of idolatry.

Image from http://www.heavenquestions.com/the-bride-of-christ-1.html

Christ’s bride follows the Lamb and not the beast. This is a reference to the discipleship of the Lord’s people.
They were purchased from among men and offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb. The firstfruits were wholly dedicated to God. They were offered as an offering to him and could not be put to secular use (cf. James 1:18).

No lie was found in their mouths means complete truthfulness is the mark of Christ’s followers. This may be a reference to their refusing to take blasphemous statements of the beast cult on their lips. ”Blameless” (amomos) is used of sacrificial victims to indicate their acceptableness to God. This could also indicate that Christian service is sacrificial.

Next time, verses 6-13.

Notes
(Commentaries on which I rely without direct quotation) 

Beale, G. K. (2015). Revelation: a Shorter Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. Kindle Edition.

ESV. (2001). Accessed 24 June 2020 from https://www.biblegateway.com

Hendriksen, William. More Than Conquerors: An Interpretation of the Book of Revelation. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (p. 125).

Johnson, A. F. (1982). Revelation in Expositor’s Bible Commentary, ed. Gaebelein. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

Johnson, D. E. (2001). Triumph of the Lamb: A Commentary on Revelation. Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishers. Kindle Edition.

Kenner, C. (2000). The NIV Application Commentary: Revelation. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic.

Morris, Leon. (1987). Revelation in Tyndale New Testament Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

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© 2020 C. Richard Barbare All Rights Reserved