Rev 14 Part 2

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So, tonight we pick up in our deep dive into the Book of Revelation. Currently, we are studying chapter 14 which is about the mid-point of the GT. Just before the bowl judgments begin. Remember, we are looking at the situation that will be happening on the Earth, to the “Earth Dwellers.” In our view the church is not on Earth at this time. We have been taken at the beginning of Chapter 4 which is right after, or “meta tauta,” chapters 2 & 3, or the church age.

For context I will read fro verse 1 but our commentary will begin at verse 9;

Revelation 14:1–8 NASB95

1 Then I looked, and behold, the Lamb was standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads. 2 And I heard a voice from heaven, like the sound of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder, and the voice which I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps. 3 And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders; and no one could learn the song except the one hundred and forty-four thousand who had been purchased from the earth. 4 These are the ones who have not been defiled with women, for they have kept themselves chaste. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These have been purchased from among men as first fruits to God and to the Lamb. 5 And no lie was found in their mouth; they are blameless. 6 And I saw another angel flying in midheaven, having an eternal gospel to preach to those who live on the earth, and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people; 7 and he said with a loud voice, “Fear God, and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come; worship Him who made the heaven and the earth and sea and springs of waters.” 8 And another angel, a second one, followed, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who has made all the nations drink of the wine of the passion of her immorality.”

So we covered all that last week. Now we move on to verse 9 and following;

Revelation 14:9–11 NASB95

9 Then another angel, a third one, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, 10 he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. 11 “And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.”

V9 – 11 The final warning. Note the eternal nature of judgement. For ever and ever. Walvoord says of the phrase forever and ever: "Literally 'into the ages of ages,' the strongest expression of eternity of which the Greek is capable; αἰῶνας αἰώνων.

This brings us to the topic of eternity. How long is eternity? Maybe its just a figure of speech? Some believe in concept called total annihilation, meaning the unredeemed just cease to exist, JW’s believe in this. Why? Its hard to reconcile for some that a loving God would commit a soul to eternal punishment.

But in fact that is what scripture teaches. Check out what the church Father Augustin said about this;

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers 1.2: St. Augustin’s City of God and Christian Doctrine Chapter 23

CHAP. 23.—AGAINST THOSE WHO ARE OF OPINION THAT THE PUNISHMENT NEITHER OF THE DEVIL NOR OF WICKED MEN SHALL BE ETERNAL

1. First of all, it behoves us to inquire and to recognize why the Church has not been able to tolerate the idea that promises cleansing or indulgence to the devil even after the most severe and protracted punishment. For so many holy men, imbued with the spirit of the Old and New Testament, did not grudge to angels of any rank or character that they should enjoy the blessedness of the heavenly kingdom after being cleansed by suffering, but rather they perceived that they could not invalidate nor evacuate the divine sentence which the Lord predicted that He would pronounce in the judgment, saying, “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.” For here it is evident that the devil and his angels shall burn in everlasting fire. And there is also that declaration in the Apocalypse, “The devil their deceiver was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where also are the beast and the false prophet. And they shall be tormented day and night for ever.” In the former passage “everlasting” is used, in the latter “for ever;” and by these words Scripture is wont to mean nothing else than endless duration. And therefore no other reason, no reason more obvious and just, can be found for holding it as the fixed and immovable belief of the truest piety, that the devil and his angels shall never return to the justice and life of the saints, than that Scripture, which deceives no man, says that God spared them not, and that they were condemned beforehand by Him, and cast into prisons of darkness in hell, being reserved to the judgment of the last day, when eternal fire shall receive them, in which they shall be tormented world without end. And if this be so, how can it be believed that all men, or even some, shall be withdrawn from the endurance of punishment after some time has been spent in it? how can this be believed without enervating our faith in the eternal punishment of the devils? For if all or some of those to whom it shall be said, “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels,” are not to be always in that fire, then what reason is there for believing that the devil and his angels shall always be there? Or is perhaps the sentence of God, which is to be pronounced on wicked men and angels alike, to be true in the case of the angels, false in that of men? Plainly it will be so if the conjectures of men are to weigh more than the word of God. But because this is absurd, they who desire to be rid of eternal punishment ought to abstain from arguing against God, and rather, while yet there is opportunity, obey the divine commands. Then what a fond fancy is it to suppose that eternal punishment means long continued punishment, while eternal life means life without end, since Christ in the very same passage spoke of both in similar terms in one and the same sentence, “These shall go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into life eternal!” If both destinies are “eternal,” then we must either understand both as long-continued but at last terminating, or both as endless. For they are correlative,—on the one hand, punishment eternal, on the other hand, life eternal. And to say in one and the same sense, life eternal shall be endless, punishment eternal shall come to an end, is the height of absurdity. Wherefore, as the eternal life of the saints shall be endless, so too the eternal punishment of those who are doomed to it shall have no end.

Augustin explains the answer well. This though brings up a corollary question; is it possible to pray a soul out of hell as the Roman Catholic Church teaches? The simple answer is no, the bible does not teach that. Why, Doesn't the bible tell us to pray for our enemies? Because as long as a soul is breathing here on earth there is hope; but as soon as one dies his fate is sealed. If not God’s word is not true. God says what He means!

Proverbs 9:10 NASB95

10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

One last question, why then is their a hell? Notice what Jesus said in Mat ;

Matthew 25:41 NASB95

41 “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels;

It was not created for man, but the Devil. we move on..

Now notice; there is no repentance for those who worship the Beast.

Revelation 14:11 NASB95

11 “And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.”

"Note: This reminds us that there is a connection between worshipping the beast and his image and receiving his mark on his forehead or on his hand. No one will "casually" or "accidentally" take the mark. The connection between worshipping the beast and taking the mark will be clear enough.

Revelation 14:12–13 NASB95

12 Here is the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. 13 And I heard a voice from heaven, saying, “Write, ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on!’ ” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “so that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow with them.”

In V12 -13 Jesus tells us to hang there. The end is here.

Why would he say, Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on!? Because the Rapture has past.

Notice we can’t take physical things to heaven but we can to our works done for Jesus; their works follow them: The patient endurance and work of these saints is remembered in heaven. The Greek word here for persevere is hupomone it means “a patient enduring.” Our patience is an indicator of our Trust in Jesus.

Notice also, our work for the Lord goes with us into heaven, giving dignity and significance to all work here below.

V14 – 20 The Harvest of the Earth. A preview of Armageddon.

Revelation 14:14–20 NASB95

14 Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and sitting on the cloud was one like a son of man, having a golden crown on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand. 15 And another angel came out of the temple, crying out with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, “Put in your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come, because the harvest of the earth is ripe.” 16 Then He who sat on the cloud swung His sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped. 17 And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, and he also had a sharp sickle. 18 Then another angel, the one who has power over fire, came out from the altar; and he called with a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, “Put in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, because her grapes are ripe.” 19 So the angel swung his sickle to the earth and gathered the clusters from the vine of the earth, and threw them into the great wine press of the wrath of God. 20 And the wine press was trodden outside the city, and blood came out from the wine press, up to the horses’ bridles, for a distance of two hundred miles.

Notice, v14-16 are speaking of a harvest of wheat and is the separation of the wheat and the tares. We see this in Mat 13 parable of the wheat and the tares.

Matthew 13:24–30 NASB95

24 Jesus presented another parable to them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25 “But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away. 26 “But when the wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the tares became evident also. 27 “The slaves of the landowner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ 28 “And he said to them, ‘An enemy has done this!’ The slaves said to him, ‘Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?’ 29 “But he said, ‘No; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them. 30 ‘Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn.” ’ ”

Verse 17 -20 are different as the describe the gathering of the grape vines. Many see the Grape Vines as applicable to the non-believing Jews of that time.

· Jesus is pictured with angels, with sickles in hand. You might remember Isaiah saying of Jesus;

Isaiah 63:3 NASB95

3 “I have trodden the wine trough alone, And from the peoples there was no man with Me. I also trod them in My anger And trampled them in My wrath; And their lifeblood is sprinkled on My garments, And I stained all My raiment.

Here in V15 For the harvest of the earth is ripe: This ancient Greek word for ripe has a negative sense, "to become dry or withered." The idea is of something that is over-ripe. This means that God will judge the earth only when it is over-ripe for judgment. He doesn't rush into judgment.

· V19 The great winepress of the wrath of God: This vivid picture of judgment was the inspiration for The Battle Hymn of the Republic.

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord, He is trampling out the vineyard where the grapes of wrath are stored He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword His truth is marching on!

· Notice in v20 Blood came out of the winepress, up to the horses' bridles, for one thousand six hundred furlongs: This probably describes blood splattering up to the horses' bridles, a picture of tremendous carnage in the battle of Armageddon described in Revelation 16:16 and Rev 19:11-19 .

This may be literal but it is not likely a description of a river of blood running the length of the Promised Land and as high as a horse's bridle is. This would be an almost incomprehensible river of blood.

In ancient times, a battle area extending one thousand six hundred furlongs (approximately 200 miles) was incomprehensible - but not in modern warfare. "The area covered, 1,600 furlongs, is approximately 200 miles, and specifies that the area within a 200-mile radius from Jerusalem will be gathered at the time of the second coming of Christ." (Walvoord)

In conclusion, this vivid, powerful description shows how complete the judgment of God is. Revelation 14 is the perfect answer to Revelation 13 . At the end of Revelation 13 , it almost seemed like Satan and the Antichrist might win. But Revelation 14 shows who is really triumphant, powerful, and in control: God, His Messiah, and His people; not Satan, his messiah (the Antichrist) and his followers.

Finally, know that the end of the story is good but before we get there are some awful things about to happen. Why, because God must judge sin. We are getting close to that day. Its your choice; you will choose what will be your eternal home. I pray you will choose life.

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