We carry on with our series in Revelation. I hope you have found this helpful, insightful and not too full on. To get a bigger picture or reminder, remember you can visit my blog, or watch messages back online on our YouTube channel, or listen to our podcast.
I appreciate that some aspects of this have washed over us. Other parts have gained traction. Wherever we stand on this we need the Holy Sprit to illuminate the Word of God to us.
Let’s delve into chapters 14-16. Now, remember, Satan is roaming the earth, the beast of the sea and the beast of the earth have been released. The mark of the beast is in operation.
But during all of this there are several voices of victory! Listen; every attack of the enemy brings God’s people closer to victory!
As the world moves into the last half of the tribulation, heaven is not silent.
The Voice of the 144,000 (14:1–5):
Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads. 2 And I heard a sound from heaven like the roar of rushing waters and like a loud peal of thunder. The sound I heard was like that of harpists playing their harps. 3 And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. No one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. 4 These are those who did not defile themselves with women, for they remained virgins. They follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were purchased from among mankind and offered as first-fruits to God and the Lamb. 5 No lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless.
This special group of Jewish men was sealed by God before the seventh seal was opened (Rev. 7), and now they are seen on Mount Zion with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Contrast this picture to the one described in Revelation 13: the followers of “the beast” whose mark is on their foreheads (Rev. 13:16). God always has His faithful peo- ple, no matter how wicked the world may become.
The 144,000 are standing with Christ on Mount Zion, but which Mount Zion: the heavenly one (Heb.
12:22–24) or the earthly one? I personally believe that this is the heavenly Mount Zion, and that the scene
anticipates Christ’s coronation and the establishment of His kingdom when He returns to earth (Zech. 14:4ff.)
Christ today is enthroned in the heavenly Zion (Ps. 2:6), and we are enthroned with Him (Eph. 2:6). The scene in Revelation 14 is the assurance to God’s people that He cares for His own and finally will take them to glory.
Not only are the 144,000 standing, but they are also singing (Rev. 14:2–3). Because of the special experiences they had during the tribulation, they have a new song to sing that others cannot share (see Ps. 33:3; 40:3; 96:1; 98:1; 144:9; 149:1).
They are accompanied by heavenly harps and other heavenly voices. It is encouraging to know that one day our sorrows will be transformed into songs!
John also pointed out their separation (Rev. 14:4–5). They stand in stark contrast to those who followed the antichrist.
The 144,000 did not belong to the earth because they had been redeemed out of the earth. They were not earth-dwellers, but citizens of heaven. Believers today do not belong to this very special group but, like them, we have been redeemed and are not part of this world system (see John 17:14–19; Phil. 3:17–21).
The Voices of the Angels (14:6–20):
At least six different angels are involved in this scene, each with a particular message to proclaim.
Angel 1: “Judgment has come” (6–7).
6 Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people. 7 He said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.”
During the present age, the angels are not privileged to preach the gospel. That responsibility has been given to God’s people. We are to are the Good News until we die or are raptured.
This heavenly messenger will summon those worshipping the beast to fear and honour God alone.
It is a reminder that God is the Creator and He alone deserves worship. This is not the gospel message as we know it (1 Cor. 15:1–4); rather, it is a return to the message of Romans 1:18ff., what theologians call “natural theology.” All creation bears witness to God’s existence as well as to His power and wisdom.
The message of the angel calls people back to basics: God is Creator—worship and serve Him.
The fear of the Lord, not the fear of “the beast,” is the source of wisdom (Prov. 9:10).
Angel 2: “Babylon is fallen” (8).
8 A second angel followed and said, “‘Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great,’ which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries.”
This declaration anticipates the events of Revelation 18 (see also Rev. 16:18–19). We will consider it in detail then.
“Babylon” is God’s name for the world system of “the beast,” the entire economic and political organisation by which he rules. I think this is secularism, at least this lets this through the door. The Bible speaks of Babylon as an actual place and a system (Genesis 10:10; Psalm 137 et el).
“The harlot” or prostitute (Rev. 17) is the religious system that “the beast” uses to help build his
organisation. I think this I the apostate church, those who give lip service to Jesus but are steeped in unbiblical liberalism.
When Antichrist establishes his own religion (Rev. 13:11–15), he will destroy the “harlot,” but it is God who will destroy Babylon.
Angel 3: “Escape God’s wrath” (9–13).
9 A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand, 10 they, too, will drink the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. They will be tormented with burning sulphur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. 11 And the smoke of their torment will rise for ever and ever. There will be no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name.” 12 This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus.
13 Then I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labour, for their deeds will follow them.”
The third message is directed especially to those who are deciding about following the beast.” It is a warning that “the easy way” is really the hard way, that to “go along with the world” means to go away from God.
There is still opportunity for repentance and salvation, to turn back to God even at this last moment.
“…drink the wine of God’s fury”. Drinking from a cup is sometimes used as an image of judgment (Jer. 25:15ff.; 51:7ff.; note also Rev. 14:8).
God will not mix mercy with this judgment (Ps. 75:8; Hab. 3:2), but will pour out His undiluted anger on a blasphemous world.
Images like “burning sulphur” [fire and brimstone] (Rev. 14:10) and “smoke of their torment” (Rev. 14:11) upset some people. “How can a God of love actually permit people to suffer eternal torment?”
Remember: God’s love is a holy love, not one based on sentimentality, and therefore He must justly deal with sin.
We may not like the word torment, but it is here just the same (Rev. 14:10; see also 9:5; 11:10; 20:10).
We must also keep in mind that God has repeatedly warned sinners and given them opportunity to repent.
The first angel in this series invited sinners to turn to God. The second one warned that the whole “Babylonian” system would be destroyed. The third warns people who persist in their sins even after God sends judgments and warnings, then they have only themselves to blame.
John intended for his readers to see the contrast between Revelation 14:11 and 13: torment for the wicked, but eternal rest for the saints (see 2 Thess.
1:3–12).
Angel 4: “The harvest is ripe” (14–20).
14 I looked, and there before me was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one like a son of man with a crown of gold on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. 15 Then another angel came out of the temple and called in a loud voice to him who was sitting on the cloud, “Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.” 16 So he who was seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested.
17 Another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. 18 Still another angel, who had charge of the fire, came from the altar and called in a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, “Take your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the earth’s vine, because its grapes are ripe.” 19 The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath. 20 They were trampled in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed out of the press, rising as high as the horses’ bridles for a distance of 1,600 stadia.
Jesus Christ is seen victorious as the fourth angel speaks (see Dan. 7:13–14; Rev. 1:13).
We have the image of the harvest, both of the grain (Rev. 14:14–16) and of the grape (Rev. 14:17–20).
This anticipates the final judgment of the world.
While winning lost souls to Christ is sometimes
pictured as a harvest (John 4:34–38), this image is also used of God’s judgment (Matt. 13:24–30, 36–43; Luke 3:8–17). God permits the seeds of sinfulness to grow until they are ripe, and then He judges (Gen. 15:16).
The grape harvest is often a picture of judgment (see Joel 3:13ff., which anticipates the day of the Lord).
Scripture pictures three different “vines.”
- Israel was God’s vine, planted in the land to bear fruit for God’s glory, but the nation failed God and had to be cut down (Ps. 80:8–16; Isa. 5:1–7; see also Matt. 21:33–46).
- Today, Christ is the Vine and believers are branches in Him (John 15).
- But the world system is also a vine, “grapes from the earth’s vine” (v18) in contrast to Christ, the heavenly Vine, and it is ripening for judgment.
The wicked system—Babylon—that poisons people and controls them, will one day be cut down and destroyed in “the winepress of the wrath of God.” (19)
Some see in this image an anticipation of the “battle of Armageddon,” when the armies of the world will gather against Jerusalem (Zech. 14:1–4; Rev. 16:16).
Today, God is speaking to the world in grace, and people will not listen. One day, He must speak in justice. The bitter cup will be drunk, the harvest of sin reaped, and the vine of the earth cut down and cast into the winepress.
The Voice of the Victors (15:1–4)
I saw in heaven another great and marvellous sign: seven angels with the seven last plagues—last, because with them God’s wrath is completed. 2 And I saw what looked like a sea of glass glowing with fire and, standing beside the sea, those who had been victorious over the beast and its image and over the number of its name. They held harps given them by God 3 and sang the song of God’s servant Moses and of the Lamb:
“Great and marvellous are your deeds,
Lord God Almighty.
Just and true are your ways,
King of the nations.
4 Who will not fear you, Lord,
and bring glory to your name?
For you alone are holy.
All nations will come and worship before you,
for your righteous acts have been revealed.”
At this point, John saw the seven angels holding the seven plagues of God’s wrath, poised for action. The wicked world is about to “drink of the wine of the wrath of God” (Rev. 14:10), but before the angels pour out their judgments, there is an “interlude” of blessing.
Before sending the “third woe” (Rev. 11:14), God once again reassures His faithful people.
John saw the believers from the tribulation who had overcome “the beast” and his system. These are the people who “they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death” (Rev. 12:11). Since they did not cooperate with the satanic system and receive the mark of “the beast,” they were unable to buy or sell (Rev. 13:17). They were totally dependent on the Lord for their daily bread. Some of them were put into prison and some were slain (Rev. 13:10), but all of them practiced faith and patience.
This scene would give great assurance and endurance to suffering saints in any age of the church.
It is possible to be victorious over the world system!
One does not have to yield to the “mark of the beast.”
Through the blood of the Lamb, we have deliverance.
The Voice of Fulfilment (15:5—16:21)
The “loud voice” out of the temple commands the seven angels to pour out the contents of their bowls (Rev. 16:1), after which he announces “It is done” (Rev. 16:17). The “mystery of God” is finished! (Rev. 10:7) The martyrs in glory had asked, “How long?” (Rev. 6:9–11) and now their cry would be answered.
Revelation 15: 5-8; 16:1: After this I looked, and I saw in heaven the temple—that is, the tabernacle of the covenant law—and it was opened. 6 Out of the temple came the seven angels with the seven plagues. They were dressed in clean, shining linen and wore golden sashes around their chests. 7 Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls filled with the wrath of God, who lives for ever and ever. 8 And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and no one could enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed.
16:1: Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, “Go, pour out the seven bowls of God’s wrath on the earth.”
The plagues are:
- Sores (16:2)
- Sea turned to blood (16:3)
- Rivers turned to blood (16:4-6)
- Scorching sun, extreme heat (16:8-9).
- Darkness (16:10-11); this is not worldwide but only the beast and his throne are affected.
- Euphrates dries up (16:12-16); some say this has already happened but it hasn’t. It allows for the foot army from the East to invade. Note the stage is set for battle: 16:6:Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.
- It is done! (16:17); The devil is “ruler of the kingdom of the air,” so perhaps this seventh vial has a special effect on his dominion (Eph. 2:2). The immediate result is a devastating earthquake that affects the cities of the nations. Satan’s entire system is now about to be judged by God: his religious system (the harlot, Rev. 17), his political and economic system (Babylon, Rev. 18), and his military system (the armies, Rev. 19).
Every generation of Christians has been able to identify with the events in Revelation 14—16. There has always been a “beast” to oppress God’s people and a false prophet to try to lead them astray. We have always been on the verge of an “Armageddon” as the nations wage war.
In the last days, these events will accelerate and the Bible’s prophecies will be ultimately fulfilled. I believe the church will not be on the scene at that time, but both Jewish and Gentile believers will be living
who will have to endure Antichrist’s rule.
Wrapping this up:
Reviewing these three chapters, we see the encouragement they give to suffering Christians. The sealed 144,000 will arrive on Mount Zion and praise God (Rev. 14:1–5). The martyrs will also be in glory, praising God (Rev. 15:1–4).
John’s message is clear: it is possible to be victorious over “the beast” and be an overcomer!
The encouragement in Revelation 16:15 applies to us all:
“Look, I come like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake and remains clothed, so as not to go naked and be shamefully exposed.” Jesus Christ may return at any time, and he expects us to live right, to watch, and to be faithful (Luke 21:36).
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