Anybody remember the anti-drug commercial with the
“This is your brain…this is your brain on
drugs” illustration? The commercial illustrates the
consequences of certain bad decisions in an effort to move you to make the
right decision. Revelation 14 operates
in a similar way. In Revelation 14:6-20, John contrasts the fate of the saints with the fate of the wicked in order to call the
saints to endure (and the wicked to repent).
When one considers just how high the stakes are in this life, there is
only one option for people with eyes to see: to surrender everything to Jesus
and endure no matter the cost. Our
half-hearted allegiance to Christ in the church today may be evidence that we
have forgotten just how high the stakes are.
May the horrors of judgment and the blessings of reward move us to
greater repentance and endurance for God’s glory today.
[6] 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. [7] 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.” [8] 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.” [9] 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, [10] 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.
[11] 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.”
[12] Here
is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of
God and their faith in Jesus. [13] 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] 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. [15] 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.” [16] So he who sat on the cloud swung his sickle
across the earth, and the earth was reaped. [17] Then another angel came
out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. [18] And
another angel came out from the altar, the angel who has authority over the
fire, and he called with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, “Put
in your sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, for its
grapes are ripe.” [19] 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. [20] 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. (Revelation 14:6-20 ESV)
I.
Walking Through
Before we dive into this passage, let’s take a
second to remind ourselves of the its context. Revelation
12-14 describes the Great War between the dragon (Satan) and the woman and
her offspring (God’s people). Chapter 12
gives the background on this Great War and brings you up to speed on the
church’s current reality: that the war has been won on the cross, but is not
yet over. Chapter 13 describes the
current war that the church faces, and now Chapter 14 contrasts the fate of both sides.
Verses 6-20 neatly divide into two sections: the three angels and their
messages (6-13) and the two harvests of the earth (14-20).
a.
The Three Angels (14:6-13)
The First
Angel proclaims an “eternal gospel” to “those who dwell on earth” (6). This is both a proclamation of judgment and a call
to repentance. I say that because the
content of this “eternal gospel” is
that those who dwell on earth would “Fear
God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come” (7a),
and “worship him who made heaven and
earth, the sea and the springs of water” (7b). Why would this message be called the “eternal gospel”? I believe it is because these commands
express God’s eternal purpose for mankind.
Mankind was created by God to know God, fear God, worship God, and bring
God glory. Ecclesiastes 12:13 calls this “the
whole duty of man”: [13] The end
of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this
is the whole duty of man. [14] For God will bring every deed into
judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil. (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 ESV)
Notice how this passage and the one in
Ecclesiastes connects the command to fear, worship, and bring God glory to His
being our Creator and our Judge.
Recognizing who God is, our Creator
and Judge, should be reason to fear Him, give Him glory, and worship
Him. Why fear God? Why worship God? Why give God glory? You should do so because He made you and will judge you.
The Second
Angel proclaims the fall of “Babylon the great” (8). This is an allusion to Isaiah 21:9 & Jeremiah
51:7-8, where the prophets foretold the destruction of ancient
Babylon. There is little doubt that for
John’s readers, Rome would be the “new Babylon” (Revelation 17:8). However, I take “Babylon the great” in Revelation to ultimately be a reference to the world system which Satan rules over,
of which ancient Babylon and contemporary Babylon (Rome) were expressions.
Here, “Babylon
the great” is described as a woman who
all nations drink “the wine of the passion of her sexual
immorality.” Her “wine” symbolizes her influence to cause the nations to become
passionate about crawling into bed with her and committing “sexual immorality,” a metaphor here for spiritual unfaithfulness to God.
Like a seductive woman who gets a man drunk in order to get him to sleep
with her, she wants to influence the nations and you in such a way that you
fall in love with money, fame, power, sex, pleasure, materialism, etc. This proclamation is a warning against the
world’s seduction because the idolatrous system of the world along with its
idols will be destroyed.
The Third
Angel proclaims an ultimatum for mankind (9-11). “IF” anyone
worships the beast and takes its
mark, they will be made to drink “the
wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger” (10a). This is Old Testament symbolism that
communicates judgment that is undiluted by God’s mercy and grace (Ps. 75:8, Jer. 25:15-38). Notice that verses 10-11 describe what drinking
the wine of God’s wrath involves: being “tormented
with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and the Lamb…forever
and ever” and having “no rest, day or
night.” Whatever is being symbolized
here, we can at least say that what is being described is unimaginable torment. This torment will be painful (their smoking: burning), never-ending (smoke goes up “forever
and ever”), and restless (“they have no rest, day or night). Hell is not being annihilated; it’s eternal torment. This is a very offensive message in our
culture because we reject notions of authority and judgment and also because we
refuse to believe that a loving God would bring about such horrific
judgment. To such a warped understanding
of God’s holiness, I want to point out a startling picture here: those who
suffer do so in the presence of the
Lamb and His holy angels (10).
After the message of the three angels, there is a Message to the Saints (12-13). This message is directed to “the saints”
in particular, calling them to endure
in order to find true rest. Notice that
a believer’s “endurance” is described
here as keeping “the commandments of God” and our “faith in Jesus.” Enduring as saints means to keep obeying
God and to keep believing in, trusting in, and relying upon Jesus. Is this how we could describe your Christian
life?
Another way that believers are called to endure here is through a benediction which holds out the prospect
of eternal rest as incentive to
endure. A “voice from heaven” pronounces a blessing upon “the dead who
die in the Lord from now on” (13). This
is the 2nd of seven
benedictions in Revelation (1:3,
14:13, 16:15, 19:9, 20:6, 22:7, 14).
The blessing they receive seems to be “rest”
from their labors (Hebrews 4:9-10). They are deserving of this rest because “their deeds follow them!” In other words, none of their faithful endurance
has gone unnoticed. On the contrary, all
of it will be rewarded.
b.
The Two Harvests (14:14-20)
Many Old and New Testament passages speak of the
end of the world as a great harvest.
There are two that take place here.
First, there is the Harvest of
Grain (14-16). I call it such because
the Greek word here for “ripe” means “dried up,” indicating that this is some
type of wheat or barley harvest. It is carried
out by one like a “son of man” (14). This title was a reference to Jesus in Revelation 1:12. It is a messianic title form Daniel 7:13-14, and was Jesus’ favorite
title for Himself in the gospels (used over 80x). That He is “seated” on a “white cloud” and
has a “golden crown on His head” also
point to the fact that this is probably Jesus.
I take this first harvest to be a harvest of believers because it seems to
be carried out by Jesus and also because it seems to be a contrast to the next harvest, which is clearly a harvest to
judgment (19-20). This first harvest is
probably the event Jesus spoke of in His Olivet discourse: [29] “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun
will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall
from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. [30] Then will
appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the
earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven
with power and great glory. [31] And he will send out his angels with a
loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one
end of heaven to the other.” (Matthew
24:29-31 ESV)
The second harvest seen here is the Harvest of Grapes (17-20). This is a harvest
of unbelievers and is another graphic description of the fate of the wicked. The angel that has this “sharp sickle” plays the role of an angel of death. Notice also that the other angel that gives
to command for him to reap comes “out
from the altar” (18). In Revelation 6:9-11, “the altar” was the place where souls of the martyrs were resting
and crying out for vengeance upon those who dwelt upon the earth.
Grapes, not grain, are harvested here to maximize
the impact of the judgment imagery. These clusters of grapes are thrown into “the great winepress of the wrath of God” and
are “trodden outside of the city,”
resulting in “blood flowing…as high as a
horse’s bridle, for 1,600 stadia” (184 miles). It really is ironic that a culture so
offended by imagery like this of God’s judgment is at the same time enamored
with blood and gore on the big screen.
This is “unrated,” gruesome imagery. In Revelation
19:15, we see another gruesome image: Jesus is covered with the blood of
His enemies when He returns. These
passages are an allusion to Isaiah 63:1-6,
which describes the day of the LORD’s vengeance: [63:1] Who is this who comes from Edom, in crimsoned garments from
Bozrah, he who is splendid in his apparel, marching in the greatness of his
strength? “It is I, speaking in righteousness, mighty to save.” [2] Why is
your apparel red, and your garments like his who treads in the winepress?
[3] “I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples no one was
with me; I trod them in my anger and trampled them in my wrath; their lifeblood
spattered on my garments, and stained all my apparel. [4] For the day of
vengeance was in my heart, and my year of redemption had come. [5] I
looked, but there was no one to help; I was appalled, but there was no one to
uphold; so my own arm brought me salvation, and my wrath upheld me. [6] I
trampled down the peoples in my anger; I made them drunk in my wrath, and I
poured out their lifeblood on the earth.”
II.
Stepping Back
In the passage, we see 3 angels, 2 harvests, and 1 point: that our only hope in life is
to respond to Jesus with utter reliance
and utter allegiance. There are three reasons in this text why this
is our only hope. First, the gospel demands a response of utter
allegiance. The gospel demands that
we fear, worship, and give glory to
our Creator and Judge. That is what
every one of us is responsible to God for and will answer for. The God who created the world will also end the
world and judge the world, and the measure of our judgment will be: did we fear
God and give Him glory? This is bad news
for us because we are incapable of
fearing God properly and giving Him glory the glory He deserves (Romans 3:23). Our only hope is to rely upon what Jesus did to pay for our failure to do so and surrender to Him as Lord of our lives.
The second reason that utter reliance and utter
allegiance to Jesus is our only hope is because the love of the world is a futile affair. We see the end of the world system, “Babylon the great,” here: she will be
destroyed, along with all of her idols.
If you spend your life pursuing the things of this world, you will waste
your life. Heed the words of 1 John 2:15-17, which calls us to avoid
the love and lure of the world because it will not last.
The final reason that utter reliance upon and
allegiance to Jesus is our only hope is because the stakes are TOO HIGH to not swear allegiance to Jesus. This chapter is a series of contrasts,
meant to put on vivid display the horrors
of hell and the blessings of reward
so that you will see just how high the stakes are. Consider
first the horrific judgment for the wicked.
Imagine the unimaginable for a second: you or someone you love burning
and never dying, never getting even a moment’s rest, all the while seeing the
One whom you’ve rejected and scorned. Passages
like this are meant to “scare the hell”
that is in us “out of us.” Meditating
upon passages like this should result in repentance,
weeping, and witness. This is the price
of not fearing God and giving Him glory.
It is certainly a higher price than martyrdom.
But consider also the unimaginable reward for the
saints. They experience eternal rest,
never to be tormented again. Those who
refuse the wine of Babylon will drink from “the
spring of the water of life” freely and forever (Revelation 21:6). There is
no comparison! This is your life
surrendered to Jesus: unimaginable reward.
This is your life apart from Jesus: unimaginable torment. Any questions?
There is a way to avoid this horrific fate. It is interesting that those who are trampled
in the great winepress of God’s wrath are trampled “outside the city,” because Hebrews
13:12 says that Jesus was
crucified “outside the gate” of the
city. He was crucified there so that we
would not be crushed there. He bore all
the horrific, eternal judgment we read about in these chapters in a matter of
hours upon the cross for you and me. He
took our hell on the cross so that we could find our rest in Him. I leave you with the words of Jesus in Matthew 11:28-30: [28] Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will
give you rest. [29] Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am
gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. [30] For
my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Come to Him today and find rest
for your souls!
