Revelation 14

Revelation 14:1-5

The reader has learned that the thirteenth chapter is devoted to a description of two mighty powers of wickedness which, hand in hand, have waged war upon the Church of Christ. It is a gloomy picture, well calculated to fill the saints with fearful foreboding. A persecuted, suffering Church, beholding these mighty enemies, their terrible work, these fearful struggles of the future, these triumphs of the wicked, might almost be led to despair of the final victory of the Redeemer’s cause. Hence, for the encouragement of the saints, their eyes are turned, in the fourteenth chapter, upon a brighter vision. The dark clouds are lifted off the future, and they are enabled to look beyond and to see the glorious fruition of all the tears and sorrow, the struggles and trials of the Church. The vision of this chapter cheers the saints and encourages them to press on in the hour of darkness, by leading the child of faith to the end of time.

The prophet first describes a glorious revival of true religion upon the earth, next points to a triumphant proclamation of the everlasting gospel by this zealous, purified, Christlike church, then shows us the result of a conquering gospel in the fall of Babylon, the city of fornication, and the punishment of all who worship the beast or his image, and finally sweeps on beyond the mighty event to the last scenes of earthly history. The coming of the Son of Man, sitting upon the clouds of heaven, is then portrayed upon the great panorama that sweeps before his vision. The earth is reaped by the angels sent to gather the elect; after this the sickle is put forth again to cut off the clusters from the vine of the earth, and these are cast into the winepress of the wrath of God. The chapter closes with a delineation of the awful terrors of the great day when God shall forbear no longer, when he shall listen to prayers no more, but when the wicked shall be trodden in the winepress without the Holy City. The first thing that invites our attention is the REVIVAL. “And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him a hundred forty and four thousand, 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 sang 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 hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth. These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are 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.”–14:1-5. John beholds upon Mount Zion the Lamb of God, and with him 144,000 saints. Mount Zion, the city of the great King, the seat of the worship of God in Jerusalem, was a type, and is used as a symbol of the true Church. In Hebrews, chapter 12:22, the saints who have entered into the covenant of Christ are said to have come, not to the mount that could not be touched, but to Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. It is there used for the church of saints, and such is its meaning in this passage. The number, 144,000, seen with the Lamb on Zion, has been used once before in portraying the grand triumph of Christianity after the seals of Persecution and Revolution. I do not suppose that it, is designed to represent ail exact number, but these stand forth as the representatives of a class. “They are first fruits unto God and the Lamb.” As the first fruits, devoted to God, were representative of the whole harvest, so these stand forth as the representatives of the harvest of souls.

We are to behold in them as they stand on Mount Zion with the Lamb in their midst, a picture of the Church in some age of the world. Let us observe the facts stated of them:

1. The Lamb is in their midst; a characteristic of the holy saints.
2. They are engaged in the praise of God.
3. They sing a song that none but the redeemed can sing. It is the song of redeeming grace.
4. They are pure, unspotted, undefiled, not fornicators, nor sullied with unholy desires.
5. They follow the Lamb whithersoever he goes. They are sheep that hear the Shepherd’s voice. They are obedient to all his commandments. They follow his example as well as his words. They live a Christlike life.
6. In their mouths was found no guile, and they were without fault before the throne of God. Whenever the Church of God becomes purified, ceases unholy fornication with the world, these are the marks which it will exhibit, and I hold that this beautiful description of a pure, holy, devoted, Christlike band of worshipers, with the Lamb in the midst of them and following him whithersoever the goes, Is the picture of a day yet in the future, when Zion shall put off her soiled garments, adorn herself with the pure white robes of Christ’s righteousness, and as the spotless bride of the Lamb follow him in holy obedience, to his will. This is the first great step towards the redemption of the world and the triumph of Righteousness. Before that triumph comes there must be a revival of Zion, a purification of the Church, a self-sacrificing, devoted, earnest people. In the age that the apostle points out this grand consummation will have been attained. There follows the legitimate result, the second great step in the pathway of triumph, the proclamation by a holy, fervent, Christlike Church of a successful, triumphant gospel.

Revelation 14:6-7

“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 to 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 is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.”–14:6, 7. The Savior taught that a true church alone could successfully extend the glory of his name when he said, “Let your light so shine before men, that they seeing your good works may glorify your Father in heaven.” The apostle has here described a shining Church, and it must necessarily follow that the Gospel should be proclaimed actively and successfully to the nations of earth. This wide-spread proclamation is fitly symbolized by the angel flying through the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to proclaim to the inhabitants of the earth, and to every nation, and tribe, and tongue, and people. I have before said that an angel is simply a messenger. The term may represent the bright spirits who carry the messages of God. It may represent any agency of earth chosen to carry out the purposes of God. Since the ascension of Christ the preaching of the gospel has been committed, not to the angels of heaven, but to the saints.

This glorious angel that flies across the heavens with the blessed message, the grand old gospel, the gospel of Pentecost and Cæsarea, Philippi and Rome, evidently represents an earthly agency, a sublime missionary spirit on the part of the revived Church. Full of zeal, breathing the spirit of the Master, permeated with the apostolic spirit, as in the days of old it will go everywhere preaching the word. The old, old, story, told by a holy people, told with a burning zeal and overflowing love, shall exhibit its divine power in the salvation of the nations. As these grand principles of divine truth are proclaimed and accepted, as the pure ancient gospel prevails, the foundations of every evil institution will be gradually undermined and they shall, at last, fall in ruin. I have, therefore, presented as the third step in this series, the third milestone on the path that leads to the consummation of earthly history in the triumph of Christ

Revelation 14:8-10

THE FALL OF BABYLON. “And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is 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 and 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 the shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb.”–14:8-10. It is needful to inquire what the term Babylon means. It occurs several times in the New Testament. Here it is spoken of as “that great city,” and her fall is doomed “because she had made all nations drunk with the wine of her fornication.” In Revelation 17:5, a scarlet harlot is seen sitting upon the seven-headed and ten-horned monster, and upon her forehead is written, Mystery, Babylon the Great. With this woman the kings of the earth are said to have committed fornication. In chapter XVIII. the fall of the great city, Babylon, is detailed at length, and it is again said that all the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her. The harlot, with Babylon stamped upon her brow, and the great city of fornication, styled Babylon, in the fourteenth and eighteenth chapters, are one and the same existence. There is an ancient city of Babylon often mentioned in the Old Testament, but ages before John wrote it had ceased to be inhabited, and the only dwellers among its lonely ruins were howling wild beasts and hissing serpents. It has never been rebuilt to this day and has passed away forever. John refers, therefore, not to old Babylon, but to some power yet unseen, when the was upon the earth, that should be revealed in due time, and of which old Babylon was a symbol. Let us notice some of the features of ancient Babylon:

1. On that site took place the confusion of tongues which divided those who before had been of one speech and one family, into various tribes and schisms at variance with each other and of various tongues. The name Babylon, a memorial of this event, means confusion, and is derived from Babel.
2. Old Babylon persecuted the people of God, and destroyed the temple of God in Jerusalem.
3. It carried the people of God into captivity.
4. It was a mighty, resistless, universal empire. The antitype, the spiritual Babylon, must correspond. There is a power that exhibits all these characteristics. By apostasy from the truth it originated the schism which has divided the family of God into sects and parties which speak a different spiritual language. It has carried the Church into a long captivity by binding upon it the thraldom of superstition. It has been a constant persecutor of the saints, and has enjoyed an almost universal dominion. That power is the woman that sits upon the seven-headed beast, the seven-hilled city, the false woman, symbolical of a false Church, the great apostate spiritual dominion of ROME. This passage shows the means by which this dominion shall be overthrown. It will be done by a pure and holy Church, filled with missionary zeal. It is the preaching of the ancient gospel which shall bring Rome to destruction. When this shall be done is not revealed, but I am led to cherish the idea that it is near at hand. The Church is undoubtedly becoming purer. Let him who doubts it contrast the Church of a century ago with the Church of to-day.

This reviving Church is preaching the gospel with renewed fervor. It appears as though we were on the eve of a great missionary age. Missionaries dare the dangers of savage lands, pierce the remotest jungles of Africa, knock at the gates of China and Japan, and are traversing every Catholic land. The purer faith preached by Luther, Calvin, Wiclif, Huss, and others, has already shorn Rome of half her power, and to-day the bells of Protestant churches ring out the call to another worship within the walls of the Eternal City. Let the Bride of Christ clothe herself in the white robes of purity; let a true and faithful Church sound forth the Gospel of Life with power, then the mighty fabric of Roman superstition will give way; the, beast will receive a mortal wound that will never be healed, and the impenitent votaries of the beast, those who receive his mark in the forehead and the hand, shall meet the merited doom of their sins. Those who have mocked God shall drink of the wine of his wrath, poured without mixture into the cup of his indignation, and their ultimate fate shall be a part in that dread abode from whence the smoke of their torment shall ascend for ever and ever. “Here is the (reward of the) patience of the saints. Here (is the day of triumph) for those who keep the commandments of God, and of the faith of Jesus Christ.” After describing this overthrow of the great enemy of the true Church, the apostle sweeps on over the coming ages, over the millennial period described elsewhere in Revelation, and draws the same vivid picture of the end of time presented by the Savior in the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew. A voice is heard to pronounce a blessing upon the dead who have died in the Lord, and then he beholds the coming of the Son of Man, the beginning of the end, the glorious but awful event that shall usher in the day when the shall judge the world.

Revelation 14:14-16

“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, and 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 is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped.”–14:14-16. This personal coming of Christ, to close the dispensation begun at the Cross, is a doctrine most emphatically and fully taught in the New Testament. Some of the incidents of his coming have been described by the Savior himself. He says that the Son of man shall be seen coming upon the clouds of heaven (Matthew 24:30). John here sees the Son of man sitting upon a white cloud. The Savior says that his coming shall be with great power and glory. John now sees upon the head of the Son of man a golden crown.

The Savior says (Matthew 24:30) that he will send his angels to gather the elect. John hears in angel bid him who sat upon the cloud, to reap the earth, for its harvest was ripe. There is gathered first the ripened harvest of the elect of God. It is an angel that came out of the temple of God as a messenger of God, carrying to the Son the Father’s command to gather the elect from the four corners of the earth. Then a longing, waiting Church, “loving the appearing of the Son of man,” shall first be gathered into the heavenly garner. The ripe sheaves are gathered, “the earth is reaped,” and the harvest of souls is ended forever.

But those who are upon the earth “shall not prevent them that are asleep.” At the voice of the archangel the dead shall wake, from their long sleep in the embrace of earth. Death shall be swallowed up in victory. “Blessed henceforth forever are the dead who died in the Lord. Yea, saith the Spirit, they do rest from their labors and their works do follow them.”

Revelation 14:17-20

“And 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 sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine 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 winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.”–14:17-20. Bright is the sunrise of the eternal morning that has dawned upon the saints of all ages. But dark is the night that settles down forever on the enemies of God and the Lamb. Long have they defied his reign. with impunity, but the great day of accounts has now come. The righteous, the salt of the earth, have been gathered; the wicked nations that remain are vessels of wrath, fit for destruction. Another angel comes forth with a sickle in his hand. Christ was the great reaper of the righteous harvest. They that are Christ’s are gathered by him at his coming, but the wicked are gathered by another, here presented as an angel reaper. This angel, one that has power over fire, comes forth from the altar where fire was kept burning. Fire is an emblem of punishment, of destruction. He bids the angel who holds the sickle to begin his work, “to put forth his sickle and cut off the clusters of the vine of the earth, for they are ripe.” Grapes are chosen as a symbol of the wicked because of their harmony with the figure that describes the fate of the wicked. They were cast into the wine-press, then trodden under foot, and from the bruised and bleeding mass ran red juice like blood. John now sees the great wine-press of the wrath of God, without the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, filled with the clusters from the vine of the earth and then trodden. Blood flows, and a mighty lake is formed as deep as the bridle of the horses, 1600 furlongs across, of the blood of the trodden. Why these dimensions are chosen I cannot tell. Some have said that 1600 furlongs is the width of Italy, others that it is the length of Palestine. I suppose that, these scenes symbolize a mighty final destruction of the hosts of wickedness. When the final day comes, they shall be trodden in the great wine-press of the wrath of God, and the startling imagery drawn from the blood of the crushed grapes, portrays in vivid colors the extent of their fearful doom.