Wednesday, December 16 –
It’s mid-week in our reading
thru the New Testament. Today’s reading
continues in the book of Revelation, as we read Rev. 14:1 – 20. After you have finished reading the passage,
please come back.
As Revelation 13 closed, the circumstances on earth are bleak. Chapter 14 opens
with a new Vision that reminds us of what is occurring on earth is known in
heaven, and God is not passive in knowing how to deal with evil. Revelation is written from the visions John receives
– “write what you see” (1:11).
John saw Jesus in his glory (1:12ff), and after a series of messages
from Jesus to the churches he was writing to (chapters 2 & 3), John saw “a
door opened in heaven…a voice saying ‘come up here’” (4:1). He sees the Father in glory, and the Son as
the “a lamb standing, as though it had been slain” (5:6), who is
given a seven-sealed scroll – the deed of all creation. Jesus who was among the “lampstands” (the
churches), now begins to break the seals and we see warfare begin between
heaven and earth. The earth is the
Lords, but Satan believes it is his. The
lamb who was standing as though he had been slain has come to take back God’s
world.
Judgment broke out, and God
moved to preserve the saints from it, and through it. The “now” of these judgments were felt in
John’s day and the “not yet” of these judgments point to a future time – the
end time of God’s sovereign choosing. We
don’t know when the end of all time will be.
Jesus had told his disciples, “But concerning that day and hour
no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only”
(Matthew 24:36). John sees visions
of the heavenly warfare against Satan’s attempts to hang on to the fallen
earth. The seventh seal was broken and
seven trumpets began to sound (8:1-2), and intensity increased. At the end of
the seventh trumpet, the declaration is made – “Then the seventh angel blew
his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the
world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign
forever and ever.” (11:15). As we
have just read, the warfare on earth is also in heaven (chapter 12 and
13). Satan and the Antichrist, and his
followers are relentless in their attempts to destroy the church. At the end of chapter 13, we read how their
followers receive a mark on their hand or forehead (13:16), serving as visual
proof of their allegiance to the Antichrist.
John saw it in the now as allegiance to the Emperor cult meant freedom,
the ability to buy and sell, and the Christians who would not swear their oath to
the Emperor were stripped of their homes, their right to earn a living, even their
lives.
The book of Revelation is
apocalyptic, and the imagery is not always easy to pin down to concrete events
or people. Yet John is given these
visions to remind the Church, even to this day, that God knows the end of this,
and he is moving things steadily towards the end. While there will be thousands who will bow
down before the Antichrist, John now sees a vision of those who will not –
“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. 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, 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. 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, and
in their mouth no lie was found, for they are blameless” (14:1-5).
The numbers represent the
totality of believers. Early church
historians are not in agreement on the number of Christian believers in the
Roman Empire at this time, but estimates vary between ten thousand to two
hundred thousand believers in the total of the Roman Empire’s population of
fifty to sixty million people.
Christians were a small minority, but John sees the small minority as
true to God, and have “been redeemed from mankind as firstfruits for God and
the Lamb, no lie was found, they are blameless” (14:4-5). They stand securely in heaven and are
singing a new song before the throne of God because they have been redeemed
out of the earth and are made pure (“virgins”) by God. The fact that they are firstfruits implies
that they are just the beginning of what God will redeem – “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” (14:6).
With that proclamation, the
vision expands to see seven new things. First,
John sees an angel proclaiming the Gospel upon the earth so that “every
nation and tribe and language and people” will hear (14:6). The call to believe is a call to worship God
alone – “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” (14:7).
Second, Judgment is coming to
“Babylon the great”, which represents the vast Antichrist Empire – “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” (14:8). This is a proclamation of what will happen,
and what John will see in chapters 15 – 18.
God’s work through the Gospel, is the undoing of Satan’s control on the
earth.
Third, a warning follows that
because of Babylon’s sure fall, do not worship the Beast (14:9-11). The warning is severe because the
consequences of failing to heed it are eternally severe – “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, 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. 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” (14:9-11). It is a sobering
picture and one that reminds us of “the fear of the Lord”.
Fourth, the blessings that come
to those who have put their faith and trust in Christ alone are much different
than those who do not (14:12-13). The
call to persevere in faith, regardless of the circumstances is what leads to
God’s blessings – “Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who
keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. 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!” (14:12-13). This is a reminder that
our lives are meant to be lived intentionally for the Lord. These verses (and following) were spoke at
Martin Luther’s funeral as a testimony to Luther’s perseverance to preserve the
truth of the Gospel.
Fifth, Christ Jesus is coming
and both salvation and judgment will follow (14:14 – 16).
“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.
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.” So he who sat on
the cloud swung his sickle across the earth, and the earth was reaped” (14:14-16).
The symbols of the cloud in the
Old Testament often spoke of the glory of God, and the presence of God that he
was present. It was first seen in the
Exodus as the cloud of God’s presence settled over Mount Sinai. When Jesus was transfigured on the mountain
top in front of Peter, James, and John, a cloud descended upon all of them and
the voice of God spoke saying, “this is my beloved Son, listen to Him
(Matthew 17:5). After the
resurrection, on the day of His ascension, a cloud descended to “receive
Him” (Acts 1:9).
The cloud had one seated on it
like a Son of man, with a golden crown.
John sees Jesus in the same way that the prophet Daniel had seen the
Majesty of the Father and the Son –
“As I looked, thrones were placed, and the Ancient of Days took his seat;
his clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool; his
throne was fiery flames; its wheels were burning fire... “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.
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 (Daniel
7:9, 14).
Sixth, Judgment is sure to come
(14:15-16). The sickle that is in the
hand of the Son of Man (Jesus) is now ready to harvest “because the harvest
of the earth is ripe” (14:15). The
Greek word John uses for “ripe” means “dried, withered”, describing a world
that is utterly decayed in its depravity.
Seventh, John sees the wrath of
God gathers the wicked evil and crush it, as a grape harvest gathers the grapes
and crushes them –
“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.
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[1]”
(14:19-20).
There is nothing pretty about this judgment. The world’s wickedness and evil touch all of humanity.
We have often wondered why justice does
not reign, but now we realize it has reached its peak, and God’s justice will
fall – sure and swift. The justice of
God is severe for those who have built a religion out of pride and
self-delusion.
John is watching the beginning
of God’s judgment fall upon the earth.
The Old Testament prophets had seen God’s wrath fall previously and had
described them as a harvest (Isaiah 63:1 – 6, and Joel 3:13 - 16). The Prophets saw it as “The Day of the
Lord”, and knew that it was a time to come when God’s wrath is filled and
his judgment will fall. It is sobering to
realize that this is the final judgment that will come to those who reject
Christ as Savior and Lord. In John’s
day, the assault upon the church’s Christians came from the Emperor’s cult. Rome’s pagan culture was much like Babylon
600 years before – destined to fall. The
Christians faced the pressure of Rome, and it came down to the question of “who
are you going to worship?” In a temporal
way, we are fearful of things that can destroy us.
Yet, Jesus reminds us – “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”
(Matthew 10:28). What John saw
testified of what Jesus said, and it still does even to today.
Peace
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