In Revelation 14, John sees the long waited sight of the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, God's dwelling place, with His 144,000 faithful followers. Is the "Mount Zion" on earth or in heaven? Opinions vary, but clearly, the grace and power of the Lamb are displayed. The Lord Jesus is central. Where He is, His people follow. Who are the 144,000? Is this a literal number or symbolic one? Opinions also vary, but clearly, they are all God's people. I personally take it as a literal number. They have the Lamb's name and His Father's name written on their foreheads. People are all marked, either they are marked by the beast, or they are sealed by the Spirit. God's seal protects, but Satan's mark exposes his followers to God's terrible judgment. The mark reveals each person's heart and allegiance.
As "a sound from heaven like the roar of rushing waters and like a loud peal of thunder, like that of harps" plays as live music accompaniment, the heavenly choir of those 144,000 sing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. No one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. It is a new song that not even angels may sing, because angels never experienced salvation. The new song of the redeemed is the profound unending gratitude for the price Jesus paid to rescue and restore them.
The redeemed also live a certain life style, not like those who simply follow the patterns of their own society. The redeemed chose to deny themselves instead defile themselves, to keep themselves pure. "They follow the Lamb wherever he goes." They are wholeheartedly devoted to their Redeemer. "They were purchased from among men and offered as first fruits to God and the Lamb." And "no lie was found in their mouths." God's people have integrity. But above and beyond that, God's people speak truth about their Savior. They refuse to deny Christ, especially in the face of those who use their words to deceive. "They are blameless." Blameless is a scary word, I am not blameless at all in my own eye or other people's eye. But my blamelessness, like theirs, is in God's sight. Our blamelessness is God's gift finished wrapping on the cross. We stand before God covered with our Savior's righteousness. Blamelessness is not something we live up to, but is something we live out. We live out the Savior's life gifted to us.
Then John saw three angels who proclaim God's response to martyrdom of His people. The first angel proclaimed the eternal gospel to those who live on the earth. Since those are only described as "live on the earth, not "the inhabitants of the earth." They still have the opportunity to change their address to heaven if they response to eternal gospel in the right way. The gospel is the good news of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ on behalf of believers. The gospel proclaims that all people are born as sinners and separated by their sin from Holy God. The wide gulf of sin that separates human beings and their Creator has been, and can only be, bridged by Jesus Christ because His death paid the penalty for people's sin. All who believe in the resurrected Christ and trust Him for eternal life are brought by Him into eternal life with God. Despite the seemingly inescapable power of the beast who "was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies," the message of eternal gospel cannot be silenced. It calls for every nation, tribe, language and people to "Fear God and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come." I like the following sentence we use to teach our children. "Everyone who worships anything else other than God will be punished." This makes things much simple and clear to see.
"The second angel followed and said, 'Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great, which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries." Here "drinking wine" means participation in the life style. To what this Fallen Babylon refers? Opinions also vary. I think it speaks of the collective murderous evil power under Satan's control and the collapse of civilizations built in all ages without reference to God. Everything that poisons human life with materialistic and self-seeking ways will fall. History is pened with proof that individuals and entire nations that chose to turn their backs on God corrupt. False belief promotes corrupt behavior. Seduced by any figurative Babylon, the human race betrays its loving Creator. This is spiritual adultery.
A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast ...will drink the wine of God's fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath." This is the cup that the Lord Jesus Christ took from His Father's hand and drank. He did this on behalf of all believers. Now all who chose to reject Him have to drink the same cup as Jesus did. Their dreadful choice brings on them the full measure of God's undiluted wrath. They "will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment rises forever and ever. There is no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and his image." Their suffering is eternal torment without any hope of relief. The Bible uses symbolic language to describe both heaven and hell because ordinary words fail to describe both. We don't have the words to tell. The symbols and pictures used in Bible do not portray a lesser reality, but a far greater reality than our minds can comprehend. The reality of heaven is unimaginably more wonderful and the reality of hell is unimaginably far too horrible.
So let us remove the sugar coating from world's prospective of hell. It is definitely not a place for you to party with your like minded friends. You would not have friends there. Hell is a solitary confinement, is darkness and anguish. All common grace of God will be gone. All God's goodness is gone in hell. The reality of conscious, unending judgment prompts objections like "God would never condemn sincere people who have done so much good." "Nobody is perfect, how a God of love would punish people in this way?" "Won't God's great love reach into hell to give people a second chance?" "How come there is hell? Why does God do this to people?" We all have the temptation to agree with those who say God is Love and, therefore, will not punish people so terribly. But the only question everyone needs to ask is "How could anyone reject God's salvation offered by Christ on His cross?" Either we believe Christ bore our deserved eternal punishment on the cross on our behalf or we bear the eternal punishment of our sins ourselves. The offer of salvation extended by Christ on His cross is our second chance, the only chance, because we all lost our first chance when Adam and Eve ate the fruit. Right now, while you are reading this, I want to tell you "Now is the day of salvation." At this moment, God in mercy calls you to repent, to accept Christ as your Savior.
No one who grasps the horror of eternal judgment can behave indifferently or speak of it lightly. "This calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints who obey God's commandments and remain faithful to Jesus." We need constant encouragement from God to persevere. And God gives us the encouragement we exactly need. “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. They will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them." Unlike those who follow the beast will suffer, we will find rest. We all crave for rest, which means life and peace in the presence of God forever. The desire to rest is God given. And everything Christ did through us will have eternal value, which means everything we accomplished through Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit has eternal worth. On the other hand, the greatest work we do in our own strength will not last to eternity. It is beneficial that we ask ourselves "what deeds will follow us when our life is over?"
In the last part of this chapter, John saw Jesus again. This time Jesus, the Son of man, appears as the Harvester "with a crown of gold on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand." The Bible uses the harvest as a picture of God gathering His people as well as of the final separation of the wicked for judgment. The harvest time for God's justice has arrived. The angel "came out of the temple" brings the signal for the final harvest to Jesus. The signal is from His Father. So Jesus "who seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested." "Seated on the cloud" points to Jesus' heavenly position but also shows that He is ready to act on earth. Jesus' parable of the wheat and weeds described how God's people, the wheat, will be harvested first and gathered into barn. Then He promised to "weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil."
Once witnessed the harvest of the grain on earth John saw the harvest of grapes. This time the harvester is another angel from the temple in heaven, carrying a sharp sickle. The one who delivered the harvest signal to him is an angel who had charge of the fire, referring to the altar fire of the heavenly temple. “Take your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the earth's vine, because its grapes are ripe." Those grapes represent people, ripe with fully developed evil. We have to notice God's restraint in this. He waited until the grapes are fully ripened. His judgment is neither arbitrary, nor random in timing. When wickedness and evil reach God's preset limit, it is time for action. His patience and grace extended right up to the tipping point where evil must be eradicated. "The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God's wrath. They were trampled in the winepress outside the city." Jesus was killed on the cross outside the city too. Those who reject Him are being trampled outside of the city now. The believers are inside the city, being spared to watch the horror.
The final dreadful picture describes mass death. Not wine, but "blood flowed out of the press, rising as high as the horses' bridles for a distance of 1,600 stadia." Those are bad grapes. Can you imagine five foot (1.5 meter) high waves of blood flow out of the winepress for a distance of about 180 miles (290 kilometers). This blood is the sign of the death of those who despised the blood of Jesus. It is their turn to shed blood. After being trampled, their souls will suffer the inescapable eternal torment in hell, the place of lonely despair.
With whom shall we speak of the truth of Christ' power to save and of His power to judge? Ask God to soften our heart so we may speak of judgment with true sorrow, with sincere tears.
