Revelation 14:1-13

Revelation chapter 14, beginning with verse 1. And I looked, and loa lambs stood on the Mount Zion, with him 140,000, having their father’s name written in their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven as the voice of many waters and of the voice of a great thunder. And I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps. and they sung as it were a new song before the throne and before the four beasts and the elders. And no man could learn that song with the 144,000 which were redeemed from the earth. These are they which were not defiled with women for their virgins. These are they which follow the lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men being, the first fruits unto God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no guile, for they are without fault before the throne of God. And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach under them that dwell on the earth, to every nation and kindred and tongue and people, saying with a loud voice, fear God, and give him glory to him. For the hour of God, of his judgment has come and worship him that made heaven and earth, the sea, and the fountains of waters. And there appeared another angel saying Babylon has fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, if any man worship the beast in his image and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation, and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment ascended up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day nor night who worship the beast in his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. Here is the patience of the saints. Here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth, yea, set the Spirit that they may rest from their labors and their work, do follow them. And I looked, behold, a white cloud. Upon the cloud one sat like under the son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and his hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, thrust in thy sickle and reap. For the time has come for thee to reap. The harvest of the harvest of the earth. the earth is right. He that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped. Another angel came out of the temple, which is in heaven. He also having a sharp sickle. And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire, and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sickle, thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vines of the earth, for her grapes are fully ripe. And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great wine press of the wrath of God. And the wine press was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the wine press, even under the horse bridles, by the space of 1,600 furlongs. Thank God bless. to us his sacred and holy word this morning. Now, Revelation chapter 12 and 13 revealed for us the three formidable foes or enemies of the Church of Jesus Christ. We had the dragon, we had the sea beast, and we had the land beast. Now, can anybody tell me? what those enemies are. Who is the dragon? Satan is the dragon. Who is the sea beast? Or who did we say was at least the sea beast? Without being so definitive on it, I’ll allow for some flexibility, but I believe that we’ve tried to lay out the case for this. Who is represented by the sea beast? The Fourth King, the Roman Empire. And sometimes the head of the Roman Empire, a Nero. That’s right. Now, we also talked about the land beast. The one that had, it looked like a lamb had two horns. What did we say that was? Does anybody remember? Keith, or sorry, Russell. Right. The cult, the Caesar called, right? We enforced the worship of the emperor of Rome. now, having laid out the three enemies, and these are formidable enemies of the church, the question is, is the church going to survive? Is it going to make it? This is an all-out attack. These enemies are unrelenting. Battling them may even require you to be a martyr, as we have already seen. Well, John addresses here as the fears of the people of God. He provides a message of comfort here in chapter 14. and chapter 15. The church is going to be victorious over all her opposition by God’s grace. In fact, Revelation 14 to 16 shows the powers of heaven are mightier than Satan and all his associates. As fierce as the battle may be, God assures his people that the war’s outcome is inevitable. Revelation 14 opens, here with the king on Mount Zion. Now, who is the lamb that stood on Mount Zion? Who is this lamb? Russell? It’s right. It’s Christ. This is the same lamb that we talked about in Revelation 5 that’s revealed to us. It’s the Son of God. And who are the 144,000? We studied that in Chapter 7. Does anybody remember who they are? Keith. This is the remnant among the Jews. Well, the rest of the nation is apostate and is going to come under God’s judgment. These are the ones that have the seal of God. Remember in chapter 7? the four angels are held back until these are sealed and so that they won’t be harmed when all these judgments are poured out. Here we have the same 144,000. So the Lamb is Lord Jesus Christ. It’s not the land beast who appears as the lamb, but this is and is called a false prophet. This is Christ. 144,000 are the elect remnant among national Israel. They belong to God the Father. They bear his image. As verse 1 says, the Father’s name is written in their foreheads. The guarantee that the Lord knows them that are his. He’s got them marked. They are redeemed from the earth or the land. of Israel. These are the ones that God has saved. Verse 3, out of the nation. Christ has purchased them by his own blood for his own. Now, Valt Zion here seems to represent the universal church as defined by the writer of Hebrews. If you look with me at Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 12, verses 22 to 24, this stated here, where I believe Paul is the writer here, but the apostle here writes, but ye are come unto Mount Zion under the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling which speaketh better things than that of able. So we have here the idea of Zion is the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, the General Assembly, the Church of the Firstborn. This universal church, we often divided the two parts. We have the church militant, still here on earth, and we have the church triumphant, which has already gone to heaven. But the two together represent all the elect of the Lord. Mount Zion had two peaks. On Mount Moriah, we find the temple was built. And then the higher point, just above that, is where David had his house built, his throne, was there, as David’s palace, the royal resident of the king of Judah. So not only does Zion portray Christ’s two offices of priest and king in a way, but it reveals the two aspects of the universal church. The lower peak, the church as the temple of God on earth, the higher peak, the church around the throne of Christ in heaven. The church on earth, the church on earth, in particular is where John sees the 144,000. He said, you know, Hebrews 12 says, you are come onto Mount Zion. It’s a present reality for the people of God at that time. It has a future aspect, but we’ve already come to Mount Zion. John heard a voice from heaven in verse 2 of Revelation 14. That indicates to us that he’s, the viewpoint is, from the earth. Christ is standing here as the protector of the 144,000, the remnant that stands against all the enemies of his people. He stands against all the enemies of his people. And so John hears this great anthem and being sung in heaven, and the sound is like a roar of the sea, and the roll of the mighty thunder and so forth. And this appears to be the song that is sung in chapter 5 of the Book of Revelation, whose basic theme is, thou hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, and hast made us unto our God, kings, and priests. Chapter 5, 9, and 10 of the book of Revelation. Now, out of all the Israelites, of the land of Israel. The 144,000, which are said to be the redeemed from the land or the earth, they alone among the Jews could sing the song along with the Heavenly Church that the Heavenly Church sings. Because they’re the only ones who are converted. They’re the only ones who are saved by the blood of Christ. None of the other Jews could national Israel could sing it, but they could. 144,000 reject the spiritual adultery of idol worship, of worshiping the beast, worshipping the emperor, and they are not defiled, according to verse 4. They are virgins. They are devoted to Christ as his bride. They are not caught up in any spiritual adultery. As I’ve mentioned. Now, they are called the first fruits. They are dedicated to God as the initial converts making up the early church. We’ve mentioned this before. They’re not the last fruits. If this was all something thousands of years later, from when John wrote, they’d have to be the last fruits. But these are the first fruits. These are the early converts to Christianity. For the time is at hand. and the time is short when these things must come to pass as he told us in chapter 1. They follow the lamb whether so ever he go. They’re earnest, they are faithful disciples to Christ. Again, the earthly perspective, they’re following Christ in the midst of all this opposition and pressure to worship the emperor. They don’t use their mouths to ascribe glory unto the beast. They’re not involved in the idolatrous worship, which described as a lie. And verse 5 tells us their mouth was foul, no gow. They were not guilty of that. And they are blameless before God. They are washed from their sins by the blood of Christ. So we have the Lamb here and the hundred and forty-four-four-thous. There’s any question. about this section. All right. The next section is the proclamation of the three angels in verses 6 through 13. First angel is laid out for us in verses 6 and 7, what he says. And here we have something to do with the everlasting gospel. Let’s look at that. And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven having the everlasting gospel to preach under them that dwell on the earth or the land. And to every nation and tongue, every nation and kindred and tongue and people, saying with a loud voice, fear God and give glory to him. For the hour of his judgment has come and worship him that made heaven and earth and the sea and the fountains of waters. Why is the gospel said here to be the everlasting? The everlasting gospel. Any thoughts about that? Well, because this is the last… It never changes, right? Paul says there’s not another gospel, and anybody brings another gospel to you is a deceiver and liar, and he’s bringing something false, as he tells the Galatians. So, of course, it’s the everlasting gospel. The point is it’s not going to change. It’s not going to change to the end of the world. That’s right. It’s the same in all ages and for all times. Now, The angel here doesn’t literally preach the gospel, but I think the passage emphasizes the church here carrying out the Great Commission. It’s the preaching of the gospel. You know, in reaching to the Gentile nations, like you have in Acts Chapter 17, when Paul is on the Mars Hill, and he speaks to them. You’ll notice that the true God is portrayed as the creator of all things. And you see that same emphasis here, even though he says that the message goes to not only just the nation of Israel, but it goes to all the rest here of the people, kindreds and tongues and so forth. And so then that dwell on the earth with those that dwell on the land, and then in addition to that, every nation and kindred and tongue and people. So it goes to everybody. In some capacity, the gospel is reaching out and touching people’s lives. Now, why is this relevant for the church under persecution at this time in history? Do you recall what Jesus said in the Olivet discourse, be right before he died and was taken to heaven. He gave us the Olivet discourse. I want you to turn with me the chapter 24 of Matthew, because I think this is important to see the connection here. Versus 14 to 21 of the book of Matthew 24. It says here in verse 14 of verse 14, and this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world, for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come. When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, whosoever readeth let him understand. And remember Luke’s gospel gives us actually a more clearer statement of this, when you see the enemy armies. surrounding Jerusalem. You know, when they invade the land, it’s time to get out. So verse 16, let them which be in Judea, flee into the mountains. Let him that is on the hilltop not come down to take anything out of his house. Needle let him that which is in the field return back to take his clothes and woe unto them that are with child, unto them that give suck in those days. But pray that your flight be. not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day. For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world, to this time, no, nor ever shall be. Here, when he says that the gospel of the kingdom is going to be preached into all the world unto all nations as a witness, then the end is again, then the end here of Jerusalem, then the end of the nation is going to take place. decades after the Olivet discourse during the reign of Nero, the apostle Paul, claimed he had preached the gospel to all the world. Colossians 1-6 and 123. Let’s look at that. 1-6 of Colossians, which has come unto you, the truth of the gospel, verse 5, the word of the truth of the gospel, which has come unto you as it is in all the world. and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you, since the day you heard it, and knew the grace of God and truth. Verse 23, if you continue in the faith, grounded and settled, be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which you have heard, which was preached to every creature which is under heaven, where I Paul am made a minister. So Paul is saying that the gospel has gone out into the Roman Empire. It has been preached all over the Roman Empire. Now, what this reveals to us is what occurs immediately after the spreading of the gospel throughout the world. The fall of Jerusalem, the collapse of the nation, of Israel. The end is near then. So when he talks about the gospel, the everlasting gospel being preached to all kindreds and nations and so forth here, we should recognize the connection it has with what’s going to follow in this chapter. He’s saying, this is exactly what I told you in the Olivet discourse, and it’s now occurred. So the first angel says the everlasting gospel is being preached, and the connection is, that means the end is coming. The second angel, any question about that before I jump to the second angel? That seemed clear enough. The second angel, speaks about the fall of Babylon. Let’s look at verse 8. And there followed another angel, saying Babylon has fallen, has fallen, that great city because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. If we have seen, Babylon is a symbolic designation. He’s not talking about literal Babylon, which was destroyed centuries ago. But he is portraying something as Babylon here in the book of Revelation. What is that? Do you recall? When we looked at chapter 11 and elsewhere, what does Babylon represent? Keith? Right. You look at chapter 11 of Revelation in verse 8. When it talks about the two witnesses being destroyed, they shall lie in the street of the great city. Now notice the term here, the great city. So Babylon is the great city as we just found out in chapter 14. So this great city has been defined, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, and where also our Lord was crucified. So what city is Babylon? It is representing Jerusalem. That seems to be clear enough from. what he’s already told us. Now, isn’t this interesting? What did Jesus declare after the gospel has preached to all the world, the fall of Jerusalem? The destruction. And so what comes, what does the second angel talk about? The fall of Jerusalem. You see how this is falling one step after the other. The gospel goes out to everyone? The next angel proclaims the destruction here of the city. The reference of Babylon is fall and is prophetic prophetic here. It awaits a final doom. But in many cases in scripture, when we have prophetic utterances, it’s stated as if it’s already done because it is so sure and certain that it will be done. So the second angel speaks about the fall of Babylon. Any comments or thoughts on this? The third angel, speaks about the cursed and the blessed. Let’s look at verses 9 to 13. The third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, if any man worship the beast in his image, receive his mark in his forehead or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture, into the cup of his indignation, and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, the presence of the lamb, and the smoke of their torment, ariseeth up forever and ever, and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast in his image, and whosoever shall receive the mark of his name. Here is the patience of the saints. Here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, write, Blessed are the dead. which die in the Lord from henceforth, yea, saith the spirit, that they may rest from their labors, and their works do follow them. The first thing we find here is that the beast worshippers are cursed. In verses 9 through 11. If anybody worships the beast, they must drink of the wine of the wine of God. Now that’s a very potent statement. If you ever recall reading in, I think it’s Isaiah and Jeremiah, both talk about God giving a cup of wine to the nations and they must drink it when they’re going to be overrun by Babylon and how bitter the cup’s going to be for them. We have the same kind of idea here for Jerusalem. And for anyone who worships the beast, they’re going to have this problem. wicked men are made to drink of the wine of the cup of God’s fury. Jeremiah 2515 gives us that same flavor. There’s no mixture here, which means it’s not watered down. In other words, you’re going to get the full potency of God’s wrath poured out against you. You know, when we have drinks, where people who have drinks, they sometimes water them down to cut down the potency. But the idea here is there’s no mixture. there’s no watering this down. You’re going to get the full blast, so to speak. So what is described is the suffering here of the second death or hellfire. Because we read here about how terrible this judgment is going to be in verse 11. In verse 10 and 11, it speaks about them tormented with fire and brimstone and the presence of the angels and the lamb and so forth and how the smoke goes up forever and ever and they never have rest day nor night and so forth. It’s an everlasting punishment. There’s an illusion here to the permanent doom that fell upon Sodom and Gomorrah. Remember in the book of Genesis when God’s fire and brimstone fell and destroyed the cities of the plains. Jude speaks of Sodom Gomorra as being used as an example. of those who suffer the vengeance of eternal fire. And so this is exactly what he’s talking about. He’s making the same application here. Lord willing, we’re going to look at that passage tonight from the book of Jude and verse 7. They have no rest. The indication here is that hell is such that there’s an ongoing anguish and suffering that takes place. without any hope of relief for all eternity. What a terrible thing. The holy angels and the lamb, we assume as well as the righteous in heaven, have a full view of those tormented in hellfire. There’s an interesting passage in Isaiah 66, verse 24, where it seems like the righteous get to look over on those who are suffering whose worm does not God and so forth. And it seems like that there’s a sense in which the people of God may be able to view or actually see something of the suffering of those in hellfire. And it seems here that that may be something that’s indicated here in verse 10 of the book of Revelation. Any questions about here the worshippers of the beast? being cursed. And then we have the worshippers of God being blessed. Versus 12 and 13. This is a personal encouragement for the people of God. He’s saying, now be patient in your trials, even if it ends in martyrdom and death. Keep the commandments of God, especially remember not to be involved in idol worship, which is against the second commandment, and maintain your faith in Christ the Savior. your sufferings will be short-lived. Your glory will be long. Your enemies’ triumph will be short. Their torments will be everlasting. Be patient. God’s judgment is going to come. Those who die in the Lord are the blessed. Even if one is martyred, they rest from their labors here on earth. They go to their eternal rest in heaven. with Christ, with the righteous. There. They will be rewarded for their works by God himself. From henceforth, he says, throughout all eternity, you will enjoy God’s blessing endless days. So the wicked suffer, eternal punishment, the righteous righteous are blessed endless days. That’s the contrast that he provides here So these are the proclamations of the three angels. The everlasting gospel, first angel. The fall of Babylon or Jerusalem, the second angel, and the third angel has to do with the cursed and the blessed and who those individuals are. Let me stop at this point. I’m not going to quite finish the chapter this morning. So I will stop at this point. Any questions about anything that we covered today? Any ideas that you want to throw out or thoughts you want to throw out on this section of scripture. Yes, Keith. It seems helpful to me to close of the New Testament. When you put it all together and you see it in the form that we try to lay it out, I think it makes sense. Because you’re saying, okay, that triggered that sign being fulfilled that Christ had mentioned, and then the end, now the destruction is going to come. Just as he said in the all of a discourse. If you didn’t pay attention to that, you might miss that. But paying attention to it, you see immediately after that, Babylon falls. At Jerusalem, destruction comes. And so it seems to me that that’s exactly what the indication is and why that’s important for the early church to see that the gospel had gone. Not that it’s, you know, that we don’t have anything to do. He could till at the end of the age, we have much to continue to work as far as the given out of the gospel. But it had particularly an important aspect with regard to Israel and its demise. And if people were paying attention and listening to what Christ said, they would say, well, there’s another check off the list of the signs before destruction comes. And that’s what occurs. And if you look at some of the other things in the book of Revelation, or a book of Matthew 24 there. What he talks about his second coming, it comes more suddenly. You know, people are eating and drinking and so forth. They’re not worried about anything happening. Whereas it seems like he gives a lot of signs prior to the fall of Jerusalem. He doesn’t give a lot of signs just some general things with regard to the second coming. So he’s dealing with both issues. but in particular, the gospel going out has a reference to the fall of Jerusalem. Anything else? Let us close then.