Revelation 14:14-20

Revelation chapter 14, and I looked and lo a lamb stood on the Mount Zion, and with him 140,000, having his father’s name written in their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as 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 but the 144,000 which were redeemed from the earth or the land. These are they which were not defiled with women for their virgins. These are they which fall to land whitherso’wether he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the first fruits unto God and to the land. and in their mouth was found no gow, for they are without fault before the throne. And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth and every nation and kindred and tongue in people. Same 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. There followed another angel saying Babylon is fallen is fall and is fall in that great city because she has made, 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 worshiped the beast in his image and received, 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. 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 right, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth. Yea, yea saith the spirit, that they may rest from their labors and their works to follow them. And I looked. And behold a white cloud. And upon the cloud one sat like unto the son of man, having on his head a golden crown in 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, for the harvest of the earth where the land is ripe. He that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth, and the earth was reeked. 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, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for her grapes are fully right. 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 the blood came out of the wine press, even under the horse’s bridles, by the space of a thousand six hundred furlongs. May God blessed to us his sacred and holy word this morning. Now, we said that chapters 12 and 13 of the book of Revelation revealed the three formidable enemies of the church here that we’ve been dealing with. God’s been bringing judgment on the one that we haven’t mentioned, Israel, apostate Israel. but the others that have been introduced, the dragon, Satan, the sea beast, the Roman Empire, with Nero at the head, and the land beast, the cult of the Caesars, all are going to be judged in the remaining chapters here of Revelation. But as we look at the formidable opponents, we wonder, is the church going to survive? Is there any hope for it to survive such an all-out attack? well, even though these enemies are unrelenting, and battling them may result in the martyrdom of the people of God. John addresses the fears of the people of God, indicates to us we have comfort in Christ. The church is going to be victorious over all her opposition by God’s grace. In Revelation 14 to 16, we see the powers of the heavens are mightier than Satan, and all his associates. As fierce as the battle is, God assures his people that the war’s outcome is inevitable and the enemies of God will be defeated. Now we looked at Revelation 14 and the first part of it, the Lamb in 144,000, and verses 1 to 5. We talked about the Lamb being Christ, 144,000 are the remnant of the House of Israel who have believed on Christ and they are the faithful ones. They overcome the enemy. Then we looked at the proclamations of the three angels in verses 6 to 13. The first angel was the one that announced to us the everlasting gospel being proclaimed. The second angel announced to us the fall of Babylon. And you recall we mentioned it being Jerusalem. The third angel talks about the cursed and the blessed. The beast worshippers cursed and the blessed. And the worshippers of God are blessed. That’s verses 9 to 13. We looked at all those under the proclamations of the angels. Now we come to the last part of this chapter. We’ve looked at this in the precepticism. past. But I hope we can look at this now with all this background behind us and see more clearly what is being talked about. In fact, I would say if you look at this in light of the whole chapter, it becomes more obvious as well. We see first of all the grain harvest in verses 14 to 16. There are two harvests that are associated with Christ coming on a cloud. We see that it’s Christ who comes on this cloud, and we’ll talk about that in a second. The first harvest is the grain harvest. The second is the vintage harvest, the harvest, the harvest of the grapes. When it says it’s like, one like unto the son of man, that kind of language is used in Revelation 1, 12, to 18, which refers to Jesus Christ. Chapter 2, when he addresses the churches, he is addressed. 2.18 like that. Daniel 7, verses 13 to 14, indicate to us it is the one like under the Son of Man comes into the presence of the ancient of days, receives the kingdom, and has dominion, and so forth. So all this refers to Christ. This is not the second coming for there are other judgments to follow. In fact, the world is not going to be renewed until Revelation chapter 21. So this is not the second coming. It is the glorified Christ. He’s the godman. Notice he has a crown on his head. Verse 14. It’s the gold crown. He rules until all his enemies are put under his feet. You’ll note it is possible that both of these harvests, as we said in the past, the grain and the grape harvest, could refer to the destruction of the wicked. Joel 3 verses 12 and 13 when it talks about God judge in the nations he uses both of these ideas. However, they may be viewed as Christ first harvesting his elect from the land of Israel because you’ll see that it’s the earth that’s reaped in verse 16 under the harvest. And then we see God pouring out his wrath on apostate Israel in verses 16 through 19 we see that the angel that thrust in his sickle into the earth and gathered the vine of the earth casted in the great wine press of the wrath of God. So this would correspond if you see this carefully, it’s sort corresponds to what we’ve already looked at in this chapter. We’re introduced to the remnant. God has spared the remnant, 144,000. He tells us that the gospel is first going to be preached in all the earth. But you’ll notice in verse 6, the everlasting gospel first is preach to them that dwell on the earth, on the land. Because as Jesus said, when he told the disciples, you’ll be witnesses unto me first at Jerusalem. then Judea, then Samaria, and the most part of the earth. So first of all, it goes to the land. And so we can see from the first part here of the harvest of the grain, that this would have to do with the land of Israel. And the harvest that God brings through the message of the gospel to them. But those who don’t receive the gospel, then they fall under the judgment. Ultimately, culminating in Babylon or Jerusalem being destroyed. So I hope you can see that that’s why this is very possible to look at it this way. So what you have is God separating the two Israel’s. There’s an Israel after the flesh, and there’s an Israel after the spirit. The harvest here, the gathering in of the elect, is often spoken of in the scripture, but let’s look at one passage. Matthew 9, verses 35 to 38. Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in the synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, healing every sickness, every disease among the people, but when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them because they fainted and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd. Then he said unto his disciples, the harvest truly is plentious, but the layers. are few, pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest. So we have the idea of the gathering of his elect people into the kingdom of God as a harvest. So we can see that with the harvest of grain here. There are other passages, but hopefully you can see that that is a very possible interpretation of this section. No, I need to need to answer any questions about that? Is that? Yes. Sunni also parallel of powerful weak and tears? Yes. Yes. Yes, he separates them. Now that, it seems to be at the end of the world, but here we have a sort of a similar idea. He separates the elect, preserves them, and then he brings judgment on the rest. But you can begin to see how this could easily fit in with how the chapter is flowing. It all flows together, really. Anything. else. Then we have the vintage of the grave. This is more a little more complex here. We look at the second aspect of it here. It’s interesting that in the vintage of the grain, it seems that Christ himself does the harvest it. Okay? In the vintage of the grapes, an angel gathers them, but we’ll find out he’s the one that’s trampling out the grapes. So he’s involved in it. But an angel is involved in the gathering here of the grapes in bringing judgment. So if I could make it more personal, we would say Christ’s voice calls out the elect. So he’s directly involved in the saving of the grain harvest, so speak. But when it comes to the judgment on the wicked, he is certainly directly involved, but the angels here involved also. And he he is the one that stomps out. He’s the one that’s meeting out the wrath here in this case. Some are, the angels are only putting them in a position to be stomped by Christ. So associated with Christ, coming on a cloud, is the treading of the great wine press of God’s wrath that we read about in verse 19. Christ himself is said to tread the wine press of the fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God. This is revealed to us in chapter 19 and verse 15. When Christ comes on the white horse, it’s interesting that it’s mentioned that way because he’s coming to judge the nations. In particular, we’ll see the Roman Empire. But the indication is he’s already stomped out the apostate Israel. He’s already done damage here and judged. And he’s the one who’s going to now bring judgment on the empire as well. We’ll look at that later, Lord willing. The focus of this judgment relates specifically. You’ll notice it says to the vine of the earth. This has mentioned a couple of times in this passage of scripture. It’s the vine of the land. I want to look at two passages of scripture. The first is found in the book of Psalms verse chapter 80 versus 8 to 16. Would somebody be willing to read that for us? Psalm 80 versus 8 to 16. Russell, thank you. It has brought a vine out of Egypt. thou preparest room before. It caused it to take deep root and it filled the land. She sent out her nose in the vineyard which by right hand had the branch that thou made strong for thyself. It is burned with fire. It is cut down. Who is the vine? that’s taken out of Egypt. What do you think that refers to? Israel, right? And they’re the ones that God took out of it. He made room for them by removing under Joshua for the most part. All these evil nations, the Canaanite nations, planted them. How far did their kingdom go from the Mediterranean Sea to the River Euphrates under Solomon and David? They expanded that much. But somewhere along the line, they’ve turned their back on the Lord. And judgment has fallen upon. The vineyard gets trampled down by some wild beast. Well, the wild beast is the foreign power. In the same way as we find in the book of Revelation. There’s a beast that overruns and judges. And God will use his the service of his enemies here against one another. He will turn the Roman Empire against Israel and the beast will stomp them once again. But they’re the vineyard. They’re the vineyard. They’re the vineyard. Look at Isaiah Chapter 5 in verses 1 to 7. Someone want to read that for us? Isaiah 5, 1 to 7. Tim, thank you. Here we have another instance of God, you know, God’s vineyard being overrun by an enemy and trodden down and so forth and how it was laid waste. And so we have these passages of scripture that have direct reference to National Israel and apostate state. And so this is not the second coming, but it’s limited to the nation of Israel. The vine here is not used as I understand it. other nations, but it’s used of Israel, in particular. It’s used of Israel. The picture of the wine press was specifically applied to Israel. You remember in the book of lamentations. We looked at this last time. Jeremiah writes in Lamentations 1.15 these words. The Lord hath trodn the virgin the daughter of Judah as in a wine press. The Lord the trotting, and it’s like Israel’s in a wine press, their blood is shed, just like grapes being trampled out. And remember, Jeremiah is writing here about the Babylonian captivity and the lament of that judgment upon Israel. And here we have a different situation, but a similar situation by another foreign power. He does something to say. The reference is in lamentation. A lamentation. A lamentation. 1.15. Yeah. I think another key verse to connect with this passage. Now, this judgment, you’ll notice, is upon the land of Israel, but it’s without the city. Did you notice? In verse 20, it says the wine press was trodden without the city. In other words, at this point, the indication is the city is excluded. What city you think that is? What is the only city that’s mentioned in this chapter? Right, it’s Babylon, it’s Jerusalem. That’s the only city that’s mentioned. And so we see that it’s excluded at this time, which means that the passage here, under consideration here, has to do with the land of Israel, being overrun by the Roman armies prior to the siege of Jerusalem. When we get to chapter 16, we’ll see that Babylon is mentioned as falling, and particularly in verse 18 of chapter 16. So, the judgment’s coming. The city’s going to fall. But at this point, we’re talking about the shedding of blood throughout the land. The judgment. They were right. The time for judgment is at hand. Now, let’s look at two other passages in the book of Matthew with regard to this. Let’s look at Matthew 21 in verse 33 through 45. Jesus is telling a parable here. He says, here another parable. There was a certain householder which planted a vineyard. Here we go again. Here’s a vineyard. He hedged it about and dig a wine press in it, built a tower, and let it out the husbandmen, and went into a far country. And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen that they might receive the fruits thereof. And the husbandman took his servants, beat one, killed another, stoneed another. Again, he sent other servants more than the first, and they did unto them likewise. But last of all, he sent under them his son, saying they will reverence my son. But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, this is the air. Come, let us kill him. Let us seize on his inheritance. And they caught him, cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him. And when the Lord thereof of the vineyard cometh, what will we do under these husbandmen? And they said unto him, he will miserably destroy those wicked men and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which will render him the fruits in their seasons. Jesus said unto them, did never, did you never read in the scriptures, the stone which the builders rejected the same has become the head of the corner? This is the Lord’s doing, and it’s marvelous in her eyes. Therefore, I say unto you, that the king’s, of God shall be taken from you and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. Whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken, but on whosoever it shall fall, it will grind them the powder. And the chief priest and the Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them. Now you’ll notice here, this vineyard and the idea of it being taken away from them and the judgment that’s following had reference to them because Jesus is referring to his generation, this generation, his day, his generation is going to expect to see the judgment of God and then lose the vineyard. Of course, it’s given to the spiritual nation, the people of God, the true people of God themselves. Now with that, in mind. Jesus tells another parable in chapter 22. He talks about the king. He talks about the wedding feast for his son. How they go out and the servants go out and invite people to the wedding feast. But we have all the excuses made. We can’t come. I bought some land. I got to look. I got some, I just married. I got some crops and so forth. And they have all these excuses. is why they can’t come. And so the Bible says they made light of it. They went their ways. One to the farm, another to his merchandise and so forth. In verse 6, and the remnant took his servants and entreated them spitefully and sued them. But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth and sent forth his armies and destroyed those murderers and burned up their city. Then, of course, he sends the servants into the highways and the byways and compels others to come. So here we have what we’re reading in chapter 14 of Revelation. The gospel goes out into all the world. First it goes to the Jews, but they reject the message. And therefore, they fall onto the judgment, only a remnant or harvest. And eventually it leads to not only them being murdered, but their city being burned up. And then The gospel, of course, is going out to others as well. And this is to gather them into the kingdom that he just mentioned that is going to be taken from the Jews. So here we have the same kind of idea, I think, in the book of Revelation. Now, a limited area is targeted. A space here of 1,600 furlongs, it says in verse 20. This is the bloodshed. Now, the distance of the blood flow is 1600 stadia. Roughly the length of Palestine as a Roman providence, a province. We said that this is about 200 miles in a previous study. Antonius Piacenza in his itinerarium records Palestine’s length as 1664 stadia. What we see here, 1,600 furlong, about the same distance. While there is an enormous flow of blood, this is not worldwide in scope, and therefore it’s not the second coming. But it’s as Josephus tells us, the whole of the country through which they had fled was filled with slaughter. Josephus Book 4, Chapter 7, paragraph 6. The phrase under the horse’s bridles does not refer to how high the blood flowed, but I think to how high the blood splattered, when the horses ran through it. So we have puddles of blood, and the blood would splash high. If you read the passage in Isaiah 63, where Christ stomps out, I think it’s Edom that he’s stomping out there, like grapes being stomped out, and he splatters his garments with the blood. It’s as if they’re dipped in blood, as we read in the book of Revelation in chapter 19, because they’re so splattered. And so we have the same idea, I think, here, how high the blood is splattering. when the judgment takes place. Any questions or comments on this section of scripture? Hopefully, some of what Christ has taught us in the New Testament, if complied to this, you can see the same ideas being laid out for us. I have just enough time. I think to let’s touch on the practical implications here, the chapter briefly. it’s comforting to know that in the midst of persecution that Christ stands by his people, as we see in the first five verses of this chapter. He is the one standing with 144,000, as they endure the persecution here, and he preserves them. Secondly, the scripture speaks of an everlasting gospel. This indicates to us the gospel never changes. Whatever gospel, we have revealed to us in scripture and given to us by Christ and in the epistles of the apostles, his servants, is a gospel that must never be altered or abandoned. It must always be the same. The third thought, that’s in six and seven. The third thought is this. Unrepentant sinners will suffer in hell an everlasting punishment. There will be no mercy shown. There’ll be no escape from the torment possible. Versus 9 through 11 touch on this indicating to us that the torment here goes on and on. The smoke rises forever and ever, and they have no rest day nor night. A terrible judgment falls upon. My third thought, my fourth, or my fourth thought, And final one is this. Just that phrase in chapter 14, verse 13, Blessed of the dead, which die in the Lord. You know, there are two ways to die. You can either die in your sins, as Jesus talked about in John 824. If you’re an unbeliever, you die in your sins, you suffer the punishment of eternal hell. or you can die in the Lord if you are a believer and enjoy the God’s rest and heavenly blessings forever and ever. Blessed are they that die in the Lord is a pronouncement of God. And these words are particularly relevant to the martyrs who do die. But they are a comfort and assurance to God’s people throughout all generations. Death, is man’s enemy. But Christ has taken the sting out of death. Has he not? And therefore, you can say with Paul, to die is gain. The people of God desire to depart and be with Christ because it’s far better, as Philippians 1, 21, and 23 indicate. So the Bible teaches the comforting truth that at the moment of death, you are restored. into the presence of the Lord so that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Christ’s words to the believing thief, who died on the cross, a cross beside him, was this, today. Not some future time, not after years and years in purgatory. today, thou shalt be with me in paradise. Now that is the wonderful thing about dying in the Lord. So human beings are inclined to say on this earth, blessed of the living, that God declares for the believer, blessed of those who die in the Lord, because we go to a far better place. and therefore we find comfort in the death of the saints, knowing that they are entering a place of rest and comfort with the Lord and will be with him for all eternity. Any other thoughts or comments as we close this chapter? All right, let’s close with a word of prayer. Keith, could you close?