(1) The judgment of the nations (Rev. 14:17-20);
(2) The defeat of the Antichrist, which immediately follows the destruction of Babylon with its false religious system (Rev. 17:5,14);
(3) The establishment of the millennial kingdom, which is consummated with the defeat of Satan, and the Great White Throne Judgment (Rev. 20:1-6, 10-14).
In chapter 13, we had the Antichrist, here we have the Lamb, so the scene has now switched from the Antichrist to Christ, it has switched from the bad news to the good news that some will be overcomers.
Rev. 14:1-5.
1 Then I looked, and behold, a Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His Father's name written on their foreheads.
2 And I heard a voice from heaven, like the voice of many waters, and like the voice of loud thunder. And I heard the sound of harpists playing their harps.
3 They sang as it were a new song before the throne, before the four living creatures, and the elders; and no one could learn that song except the hundred and forty-four thousand who were redeemed from the earth.
4 These are the ones who were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These were redeemed from among men, being firstfruits to God and to the Lamb.
5 And in their mouth was found no deceit, for they are without fault before the throne of God.
John sees the Lamb standing on Mt. Zion and with Him are the 144,000, having His Father's name written on their foreheads. So these people also have a mark, the mark of God. This mark is, of course, to protect them from the wrath of God that is about to be poured out.
Verse 2, the voice of many waters represents commanding authority while the voice of loud thunder signifies that what is about to take place is divinely terrible. Then John hears the sound of harps being played.
Verse 3, Who is doing the singing? The harp players. Now notice that this scene is taking place before the throne of God, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders. Where are the 144,000? On Mt. Zion with Christ. So these people on earth hear a song being sung in heaven, notice the 144,000 do not know the song, for they are the only ones who can learn the song. Why could not the rest of Israel learn the song? Because these 144,000 are the firstfruits, the first of Israel to experience salvation and redemption through Christ and are preserved because of their faithfulness amid the enticements and persecutions of the Antichrist. The 144,000 could learn the song because they (not the rest of Israel) have the experience of that which is celebrated in the song, namely "matters of trial and triumph, of deep joy and purity of heart. These are the first from among Israel to be redeemed from the earth.
Verse 4, I take this to mean that they were spiritually chaste. In the context of chapter 13 there are false prophets saying you are to give your allegiances to the Antichrist. When we get to chapter 17, it will talk about Babylon the Mother of Harlots that entices men, and an unfaithful woman in contrast to the true woman of chapter 12. So when it says that they have not defiled themselves with women, I take it to mean spiritually in that they have not worshiped the Antichrist or taken his mark. They have not spiritually prostituted themselves by going after a strange lover, they have remained pure and faithful, thus following the Lamb.
The firstfruit--when the barley harvest came up out of the ground in ancient Israel you were to cut the firstfruit or the first sheaf of the barley. You were then to take that firstfruit and wave it before the Lord; then the Lord would accept the offering guaranteeing that more would come up out of the ground. In 1 Cor. 15, where Paul is dealing with the doctrine of bodily resurrection, it says that Christ was the firstfruit of them that slept, meaning that he was the first one to come up out of the ground, never to die again. This is the guarantee that those who are dead in Christ will also at the rapture be resurrected never to die again. Now I take that the 144,000 Jews, 12,000 from each tribe, are the firstfruit of the great ingathering of Jews at the Lord's coming. These 144,000 are the firstfruit; there will be more, those who survive the seventieth week.
Verse 5, even in the midst of the falsehood in which the worshippers of the beast move, there is no falsehood from the mouth of the 144,000, they remained true to God.
In summarizing these verses we see the 144,000 with Christ on Mt. Zion. They are listening to harpists in the heavens, these harpists are the ones found in chapter 15:2&3, And I saw something like a sea of glass mingled with fire, and those who have victory over the beast, over his image over his mark and over the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, having harps of God. And they sing the song of Moses... and the song of the Lamb.... Therefore, what they are listening to on earth is the redeemed, the church that is before God singing praises because now God has taken control of the earth and has begun His power to reign.
So in the midst of the coming of the terrible time of chastisement, the time when, if you don't worship the beast or take his mark you will be killed, the Lord says "but, I will stand on Mt. Zion, I will have my 144,000 who have kept themselves spiritually chaste by not playing the harlot with other gods. They are listening to the redeemed who have also been faithful who are now raptured from the earth singing a new song because God now has taken His authority to reign. So in the midst of the darkest hour that the world has ever known, when Satan is thrown to the earth, when restraint is removed, and the church is in the worse position it has ever been in, the Lord shows that He will be victorious by showing a preview of the Church singing in the heavens. He will have His 144,000 which is the woman, the rest of the offspring will be in heaven singing praises unto God; the nation of Israel, which is the natural line of Israel, will come to know God; surely God is victorious.
Rev. 14:6-13.
6 Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth-- to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people--
7 saying with a loud voice, "Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water."
8 And another angel followed, saying, "Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication."
9 Then a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, "If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand,
10 "he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall 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 ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name."
12 Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.
13 Then I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, "Write: 'Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.'" "Yes," says the Spirit, "that they may rest from their labors, and their works follow them."
Here we have the proclamation of the three angles. These three angles because of what is included all deal with things that occur right when everybody is given a choice of who they will worship. So when you come to a place where you will be compelled to make a choice of receiving the mark or not, remember you will be warned in advance of what will happen.
When all the things begin to occur at the beginning of the second half of the seventieth week, God will graciously give advance warning to every inhabitant on earth about the dreadful and irreversible consequences of worshipping the beast or his image and of receiving his mark. The central message of this warning will be one final presentation of the gospel. This will come in the form of three divine announcements from the Lord, each given by a separate angel, and will occur during a short period of time at the midpoint of the seventieth week, when every person is making their choice. Through the three angels, then, the message of the gospel will be graciously proclaimed, giving the world a final opportunity to repent and trust in Christ for eternal salvation.
Verse 6&7, Christ says in Matt. 24, that the gospel is preached to the whole world, then the end shall come, here in this verse we are told that the gospel is preached to every nation, tribe, tongue and people. Listen folks, this has to happen before Christ comes for His church. The church is mandated to do that now but it will be consummated during the great tribulation by this first angel, then God will cut the great tribulation short and rapture His church, oh what a great hope we have!
The first of the three divinely dispatched angels will proclaim the promise of eternal life for those who worship the true God and Him alone, and he will also warn of the eternal wrath awaiting those who turn to the false god of this world, Antichrist. "The hour of His judgment has come," "has come" carries the meaning of "is at hand," indicating its impending arrival.
What is the eternal gospel proclaimed by the first angel? It is the gospel of Jesus Christ, the same gospel proclaimed throughout scripture. John explained how a person becomes a child in God's family and a citizen in God's kingdom. Let's turn to John 3:14-18, 36, and read.
In order for a person to become right before God, he must turn from his sin (repent) and turn to (believe in) Jesus Christ as his only means of salvation (2 Cor. 7:9&10). The word believe is more than acknowledging that something is right or true, it means to put complete trust in. Many people acknowledge that Christ is the Savior and the only way to salvation, but are not saved, because they have not placed their personal trust in Him as their Lord and King.
Acknowledging Christ's power to save from sin is the first step, but by itself it accomplishes absolutely nothing. Instead such head knowledge about Christ and the gospel gives a person a false sense of spiritual security and becomes a barrier rather than a bridge to salvation. John points out this truth in John 3:36. So it is not the one who assents to a list of doctrines about Christ who is saved from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God, but the one who puts his entire confidence and puts his entire trust in Him as Savior, Lord and King. Only this genuine relationship to Christ will make "overcomers" out of the weak, compromising believers who enter the last seven years of the end times. But for those genuine Christians who have lived a life of personal or doctrinal compromise, the cost will be great. For although the scriptures teach that they will be saved, it will be only "as though by fire" (1 Cor.3:15).
Verse 8, the second angel will announce to the world that the Babylonian Harlot--Satan's false religious system--has been destroyed. Later John refers to the Babylonian Harlot as "BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH" (17:5). This city depicts the supreme systems of false religion that focus on the "Queen of Heaven" with its mother/child worship, which in one form or another has dominated all the beast empires of Satan and has sought to deceive Israel and the church in general, since their beginnings. The most visible manifestations of the false religion as a pervasive influence today is seen in those churches who worship Mary the mother of the Christ child. At the midpoint of the seventieth week, Satan and his Antichrist will compete with no one for the worship of the world, including this foreign god that had helped Antichrist gain control of the world. For that reason, Antichrist and the leaders of his ten-nation coalition will destroy "the harlot" at the same time Antichrist demands worship of the world.
Antichrist, of course, must destroy his temporary ally, the Babylonian Harlot, because in his claim to deity, Antichrist cannot tolerate any rival. The harlot, whatever her end-times identity might be, will represent the culmination of the false religion that Satan himself first inspired in ancient Babylon. According to Rev. 17:16, the Antichrist and his ungodly coalition of ten nations will " hate the harlot and make her desolate and naked, and will eat her flesh and will burn her up with fire." Thinking they are acting freely out of their own self-will, they will in fact be fulfilling the will of God, "For God has but it in their hearts to execute His purpose" (Rev. 17:17).
Verses 9,10,11, here is where people are warned of the consequences of worshiping the beast, or his image, or receiving his mark. This angel must sound at the midpoint of the seventieth week because that marks the beginning of the Antichrist compelling people to worship him and to receive his mark.
This warning is to unbelievers (v.6), and to saints who will be tempted to deny their faith in view of impending death for faith in Christ.
This will be the most sobering warning possible to all who are considering taking the mark of the beast or worshipping his image, thereby giving irrevocable allegiance to Satan's savior and king. Because the "whole earth" will be amazed by the recognition of who Antichrist really is and will "follow after the beast" (Rev. 13:3), this warning has incredible significance to everyone who has refused the gospel of Christ.
The proclamation of the third angel will set forth the only two alternatives about which all living people will be compelled to decide. Put in the starkest contrast, the message of the third angel is: Worship the beast or his image and you will live today but you will spend eternity in the Lake of Fire; or refuse to worship the beast or his image and you risk death today but you will spend eternity with Christ. This, then, is the test, the choice everyone must make, and everyone upon the face of the earth will know the consequences, in advance for following Antichrist.
As Christ explained in the Olivet Discourse, those who worship the beast or his image and take the mark will suddenly, but too late, become aware of their fatal decision when the Lord returns "as a thief in the night" (1 Thess. 5:2,3). For when they see the sign of the Son of Man, they will say, "to the mountains and the rocks, 'Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come; and who is able to stand?'" (Rev. 6:16,17; cf. Matt.24:30; Luke 21:25,26). Thus when the sign of the Day of the Lord appears in the heavens, and the earth is rocked with earthquakes (Rev.6:12-14), there will be no question in anyone's mind as to what is about to occur. Every unbeliever will have heard the angelic warnings and will know the eternal consequences of his choice--the Day of the Lord's wrath and eternity in the Lake of Fire "for ever and ever" for taking the mark of the beast rather than turning to Christ for salvation.
I do not believe that any true believer will take that mark, but I do believe that there are multitudes who go to bible believing churches who have never been regenerated, will take that mark.
Christians, I would admonish you. Whether or not we are the generation that enters the seventieth week, I urge you to be sure of your relationship to Christ--not just acknowledging Him as your Savior, but acknowledging Him as Lord of your life and walk in obedience to Him as the King of the kingdom of God. And second, I would urge you to understand the monumental test that Antichrist will use in trying to destroy God's own elect. The consequences to God's elect of being unprepared for the great tribulation will be that they will receive the full brunt of Antichrist's fury, a time of persecution that will make the Holocaust pale in comparison. But for all who are genuinely "in Christ" who refuse to worship the false king or his image, they will nevertheless, still stand right before God, even if only "so as through fire" (1 Cor. 3:15).
On the other hand to the "tares" the counterfeit Christians, and to sinners in general, the consequence for worshiping Antichrist, his image, or taking his mark, is eternal damnation--to be forever separated from God, where "the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night" (v.11). But the gracious gift of God to all, who refuse the Antichrist and truly trust in God, is eternal life. "We also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain...behold, now is 'the accepted time,' behold now is 'the day of salvation'" (2 Cor. 6:1b, 2b). To you I must caution that there will come a time when you will be "deluded" by God Himself, so that you might believe what is false, in order that you may be judged for not believing the truth when you could have. Behold now, right now is the day of salvation. Tomorrow may be too late.
Verses 12,13, "Here is the patience (steadfastness, perseverance) of the saints...." People this is referring to believers, for they are the only ones who can obey the commandments of God by faith in Jesus Christ. Those saints will not experience the eternal punishment soon to be meted out on the unbelieving world at the Day of the Lord. For before the time of God's judgment, God will rapture His persevering church, who has remained faithful even during the Great Tribulation, rescuing them out from within "the hour of testing"
"Blessed are the dead who die from now on...." Those who die for their faith in Christ will be blessed because they are released from the persecution, torture, and suffering that is taking place on earth, and they will reign with Christ.
Now we move into something that is just incredible. Before we continue, look with me at Matt. 3:12, this is a parallel to the wheat and tare parable where the Lord says, "Listen, don't separate the tares from the wheat, I will take care of that at my coming. I will send my angels to do the reaping, first of all I will separate the tares from the wheat, the tares will be reserved for destruction by fire, the wheat I will but in my barn (raptured to heaven)." John the Baptist says it beautifully here in this verse, "His winnowing fan is in His hand, and he will thoroughly purge His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn the chaff with unquenchable fire." This is a perfect illustration of rescuing the elect followed by the destruction of the wicked. That is what the fiery testing is all about, to determine who is and who isn't. So as Matt. 13 says, first there will be a separation. Now we will see the exact same thing in the next few verses. First let's go to Matt. 13:24-30, "...The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. So the servants of the owner came and said to him, 'Sir did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares? He said to them, 'An enemy has done this.' The servants said to him, 'Do you want us then to go and gather them up?' But he said, 'No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. In other words, the tares look so much like Christians, he says not to do it because you will also hurt Christians in the process. 'Let them both grow together until the harvest, and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, "First gather together the tares and bind them into bundles to burn them. So the first thing the reapers will do is to separate the tares from the wheat, then go to the field, bind the tares for judgment, this is what happens during the fiery testing, but gather the wheat into my barn. If you go to Verses 39 & 40, it reads, "The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, the Day of the Lord, and the reapers are the angels. Therefore just as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so will it be at the end of this age. So if you put that whole thing together with what we saw in Matt. 3, there are three steps. First, the separation of the tares from the wheat, that is during the fiery testing. Second, there is putting the wheat into the barn, God harvests the wheat by putting it in the barn, the rapture of the Church. Third, He burns the tares with fire at the end of the age, the Day of the Lord.
Rev. 14:14-16.
14 Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and on the cloud sat One like the Son of Man, having on His head a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle.
15 And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, "Thrust in Your sickle and reap, for the time has come for You to reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe."
16 So He who sat on the cloud thrust in His sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped.
Now remember that chapters 12, 13, 14, is an interlude where the whole scope of the conflict of the ages is viewed. We have here the first of two reapings, this is a positive reaping. This is the reaping of the wheat, the rapture of the church.
Rev. 14:17-20.
17 Then another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle.
18 And another angel came out from the altar, who had power over fire, and he cried with a loud cry to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, "Thrust in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for her grapes are fully ripe."
19 So the angel thrust his sickle into the earth and gathered the vine of the earth, and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.
20 And the winepress was trampled outside the city, and blood came out of the winepress, up to the horses' bridles, for one thousand six hundred furlongs.
Here we have the second reaping. This is the reaping of the tares that have been reserved for judgment during the Day of the Lord. The angel throws the tares into the winepress of the wrath of God.
Verse 20, this is referring to the battle of Armageddon. Antichrist will assemble his armies for one last-ditch effort to win the cosmic conflict that began in Genesis. It says that the blood will be over a span of about 200 miles. Now if you read some of the commentators on this verse they say that the blood will flow four and a half feet high for a distance of 200 miles, now that is a lot of blood. That is not what it is saying! The imagery is of a winepress. It is as if you take grapes, put them in a winepress and you squeeze them and the juice splashes up four and a half feet. So for 320 kilometers the winepress of God's wrath is so ferrous it will cause blood to splash up to the horse’s bridles, which is about four and a half feet. It is not a river of blood four and a half feet high flowing for 320 kilometers.
It is hard to capture the magnitude of this scene, and for this reason it is best just to let scripture speak for itself as seen so clearly in the following passages: (Isaiah 34:1-3; Ezek. 39:1-5,12,13; Rev. 19:19-21; Dan. 2:44, 7:9.11).
Remember the seventh trumpet was blown in chapter 11, in 12,13 & 14, we had an interlude that brought the entire cosmic conflict between God and Satan in focus. This chapter is the prelude to the pouring out of the seven bowls.
The seals that we spoke about had to be broken, the trumpets had to be blown, now we come to the bowls and they are to be poured out. It is important to understand those concepts. The bowl described here is a shallow, wide--brimmed container. It is something like the bowl that a religious Jew would wash his hands in before eating a Sabbath meal; it was used for cleansing; then when that was done the water was thrown out of the bowl and because it was shallow and wide the water would go out very quickly. I am telling you that because the bowl judgments are poured out very quickly over a short period of time. Bang, bang, bang, one right after the other. The world is going to be devastated by this machine gun like repetition of things that will happen when these bowls are poured out, culminating in the battle of Armageddon. The bowl judgments will focus upon all who have taken the mark of Antichrist and worshiped the beast or his image, with a special emphasis on the nations of the eighth beast empire. The trumpets begin the wrath, the bowls end the wrath.
Let me try to give you a time frame as to when the bowls take place. Daniel portrays in his book the time frame known as the seventieth week of Daniel. This week can be divided into three periods.
(1) The beginning of sorrows, basically the first three and one-half years.
(2) The Great Tribulation which begins in the middle of the seventieth week, but does not go to the end of that week because God cuts it short for the elect's sake.
(3) The Day of the Lord. This is when the trumpets are blown. The seal events take place up to the time that God cuts the Great tribulation short, followed by the trumpets during the Day of the Lord. The seals and the trumpets encompass the entire seventieth week.
Remember in Dan. 12, it talks about a thirty-day period beyond the seventieth week. In Rev. 11:15, we have the sounding of the seventh trumpet, with that the Lord returns to the earth, that is happening right here at the end of the seventieth week. Now for thirty days He is going to judge the nations by the pouring out of the bowls against them because of the way they have treated Israel. So the events of the bowls will take place over a brief period of time.
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