REVELATION 14
In the previous chapter, the future looked very bleak for the saints. The Beast arose from the sea, empowered by the dragon, and was given authority over the saints (Rev. 13:5). The False Prophet aided the Beast in his ascendancy and worldwide worship (Rev. 13:11-13). An image of the Beast was made which required worship of the image and of the Beast at the cost of one’s life (Rev. 13:15). [The time period of the previous chapter was right at the midpoint of the Tribulation where the antichrist sets himself up as god, to be worshipped. Now], the focus moves back from the earth, under the control of the Beast, to the heavenly realm where the justice and sovereignty of God are once again emphasized. (Garland’s Commentary)
1 And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads.
We don’t know the amount of time between the end of Chp. 13 and this verse. This chapter explains what will be happening over the last 3.5 years of the Tribulation. Chapters 15 – 17 fulfill this chapter’s statements, especially verses
6 – 20. Jesus Christ is preparing to return to Earth from the Heavenly Mt. Sion, and He will take with Him the 144,000 martyred (raptured?) Jewish witnesses. Or, this may be referring to the Earthly Mt. Sion and would involve the 2nd Coming (doubtful). Mt. Zion can refer to the ‘City of David’, which is Jerusalem (Pre-Millennial); the ‘Millennial City’ where Christ will rule from (Jerusalem); or the New Jerusalem (after the Millennium). This sealing is referring to what happened in 7:3. It appears that these 144,000 were martyred in the first half, or beginning of the second half, of the Tribulation and are now with Jesus Christ in Heaven. The next several verses strongly support a heavenly scene.
“The problem with taking this as a heavenly scene (the heavenly Mount Zion) is how to explain the failure of the sealing of the 144,000 for protection (Rev. 7:1-3) which has now apparently resulted in their death? The 144,000 of Israel, who appear to have an evangelistic role, could not be a part of those kept in the wilderness. Because of their evangelistic mission, they will not be in Judea when the signal comes to flee to the mountains and subsequently the wilderness. Nowhere is it said that the seal which these receive is to protect them against death. Scripture only tells us they are to be protected from the direct effects of God’s judgments poured upon the earth. This is why the four winds of the earth are held back until they are sealed (Rev. 7:1-3). Moreover, they are said to be protected from the demonic locust judgment (Rev. 9:4). Does this necessarily mean that they are completely invincible for the entire duration of the Tribulation? If the example of the two powerful witnesses of God is any example, then perhaps not.” (Garland’s)
2 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: 3 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 hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.
There will be very loud music and singing in Heaven; but no mention of electric guitars or drums….! Unless the harpers harping with their harps would be that…(sic).
There will be ‘song priviledges’ in Heaven; the learning of a new song sometimes will be priviledged to select groups.
4 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 firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. 5 And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.
The qualifications to be in the 144,000 involved being a virgin and one that follows Jesus Christ (and, being of one of the 12 tribes of Israel). These were apparently the firstfruits of the Tribulation: they were the first large group of Christians to die a martyrs death. In chapter 12, Israel proper goes into the wilderness to her place to be protected by God. The 144,000 are witnesses and probably were not there but out and about witnessing and were protected by their seal….for a time, and then when their job was done they most likely were martyred, though some might like to think they were raptured safe and sound. They remained faithful (no guile, without fault) to their Saviour through immense torture and eventually death.
6 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, 7 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.
This occurs after the scene of the martyrd Tribulational saints in heaven…thus, some time after the midpoint. During these last few years, months, weeks, or days of the Tribulation, the Lord shows continued mercy and preaches the gospel message to everyone! It is by one specific angel; what an interesting event this would be. It may be received much like Noah’s preaching of righteousness and judgement was received…no-one heeded it. Apparently there are 3 main gospel preaching entities in the Tribulation: the 144,000; the 2 Witnesses; and this angel.
God has been judging for this whole 7 year period; but now is the cumulation of it all. Basically, you have one last chance; listen to the gospel, fear God, give Him glory, and worship Him or else! Don’t worship the other one (AntiChrist) or worship “mother earth” rather than the Creator.
8 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.
This is the first mention of Babylon in this book. The system, and city, that the AntiChrist controls, is falling apart; probably a process over time. But, may end with fire coming down from heaven to completely destroy it. It is true that Babylon is not just a religious system, but is headquartered in an actual city. Rome? New York? London? What city has been involved with causing nations to go into religious error? Rome! In the most literal sense, it could very well be the city of history along the banks of the Euphrates river, originating with the kingdom of Babel established by Nimrod (Gen 10); and is rebuilt at the end times. This city does exist right now, and was being built up with new buildings during the reign of Hussein.
An article published in April 2006 states that UN officials and Iraqi leaders have plans for restoring Babylon, making it into a cultural center. The U.S. military occupied Babylon as a base for five months before handing over to a Polish-led division. As of May 2009, the provincial government of Babil has reopened the site to tourism.
9 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,
There now are 3 angels mentioned: the 1 preaching the everlasting gospel, the one declaring Bablon’s fall, and this one warning of God’s wrath upon those who take ‘the mark’. This all proceeds rather quickly, I believe…maybe just days or weeks apart between each angel’s proclamation here in this chapter.
The beast is the AntiChrist; worshipping the image is equal to worshipping the beast. All those who receive the mark will, by that act, give allegiance to the beast and agree to worship only him, and no other gods. The beast’s mark may be some hi-tech invisible tattoo or a microchip; tattooing is becoming quite popular all over the world; microchips are being routinely placed in pets, and now some in infants and adults!
10 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: 11 And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
The worshippers of the Beast in the Tribulation will be punished even more than others during that time, and forever in Hell. This is the worst of all sins. These will have ‘no rest day nor night’. It appears that this is specifically referring to Hell. It is obvious that there is real fire and brimstone there (what else could it be referring to?).
But, why would this be visible to the Lamb and the holy angels? Good question. It may be that initially it is viewable and then upon the Great White Throne Judgement, it is not, but is forever forgotten.
There are some who believe that those in Hell and the Lake of Fire will be viewable forever by the Lord, angels, and the saints of God. Isa 66:23-24 And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord. And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.
12 Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.
Tribulational saints will need to be very patient as they endure all sorts of hardships and trajedies, and just wait for the Lord’s deliverance at the end. Be patient, for these wicked will be punished justly.
These Tribulational saints, Jews, have put their faith in Jesus Christ for salvation, and also keep the commandments from the O.T. They are still saved the same way that we are…the only way. They are truly saved and are living a righteous life. There are so many that believe that it is keeping of the commandments plus faith in Jesus…oh how wrong they are!
13 And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.
Henceforth from where? From verse 10’s “Babylon is fallen”? It is possible that this is where most of the Tribulational saints will die at. There will be special blessings for these latter half Tribulational martyrs. Their ‘works’ follow them in the form of rewards…and lots of them!
14 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. 15 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. 16 And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped.
This now jumps to the end of the Tribulation, or at least near the end. It may be Jesus Christ getting prepared for His 2nd Coming, but is still up in Heaven. It was explained by an angel that He would return the same way He left (cloud) (Acts 1:11). He is the one with the sickle and the one who does the reaping here. There is another harvest done by angels in the next set of verses. This harvest of v. 16 is not the Rapture, for that had already occurred in chapter 4, and was done by angels. This harvest is the harvest of the Gentile nations, good vs. bad.
17 And 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, 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. 19 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. 20 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.
This is a different reaping than what just occured. This harvest deals with an angel and the vine of the Earth, which would not be the Jews, but the adherants to the AntiChrist; for Jesus is the True Vine. The fruit that she, the Great Whore, has grown, which is fornication, is fully ripe, i.e. rotten. This ‘second’ harvest involves gathering the followers of the antichrist together and then God’s wrath is poured out upon them at Armageddon!
This is further described in chapter 19 (Armageddon).
A winepress is used to squeeze all the juice out of the fruit; the fruit is wickedness. In figure, but literally, what is squeezed out of them is there own blood, and lots of it! It is said to be at the horse’s bridles (5 ft) and for 1600 furlongs, about 200 miles!!!!!! This could equal to about 100 million gallons of blood! There is over 200 million who will die… a half gallon a piece sounds reasonable! How horrible is this?!!!!! This all happens in the valley of Jezreel before the hill of Megiddo in the land of Palestine. Some say this is all symbolic; however, when Titus destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD, Josephus states that the blood ran into the streets and even into houses; it is said that it even put out some of the fires. When Cylla destroyed Athens, the blood ran into the streets and yards, and ran through the gates like rivers.
REVELATION 15
1 And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.
The many ‘ands’ that we see in Revelation speak of a chronicity of events, one after the next.
This sign was supposedly only for John to see; maybe on a huge video screen?
Prior to this we have had judgements of seals, trumpets, and even thunders. These are the last 7! All of God’s wrath is poured out here (the 7 last plagues)! The seal, trumpet, and vial judgments are sequential, not parallel.
“Some gravely tell us that the first bowl is the French Revolution; the second bowl, the naval wars of
that Revolution; the third bowl, the battles of Napoleon in Italy; the fourth bowl, the tyranny and
military oppression of Napoleon”, [etc.]… (Garland’s)
2 And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.
I take this ‘sea of glass’ literally (very large area of glass); Rv 4:6 speaks of the same. This glass had fire mixed in with it. This is the very throne room of God. A huge area for the martyred Tribulational saints to stand on and sing and play their harps.
There is a close relationship between the beast (antiChrist), his image (hologram vs. actual idol), his mark (in the hand or forehead), and the number of his name (666, not the same as his mark). All these entities tie in together to oppress and fight against the saints of God.
They played literal harps; music in Heaven is very specialized: singing and harps are the main musical ‘instruments’ found in Heaven. What is your music like?
3 And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. 4 Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest.
There is a lot of singing that goes on in Heaven. This is one reason why we have a lot of singing in our church services.
A special song composed by Moses, which is aka the “song of the Lamb”. Could be that from Ex 15 or Deut 31. This may be the same song as in Rv 5:9 and 14:3. This will be one of the favorite songs in Heaven. No hymn apparently contains these lyrics. The content of the lyrics to this song are very powerful: they point to praise, truth, fear, glory, holiness, worship, and judgements. Our songs should have lyrics that are full of these elements. Will your favorite music be in Heaven? Is it holy enough?
5 And after that I looked, and, behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened:
Some say this is just continuation from Rv 11:19 where this temple vision is mentioned. And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail. I believe this moves on chronologically from there and is a second vision dealing with the temple. This Temple is in Heaven and is in the heavenly Tabernacle where the ark of the testimony is. The ones in the O.T. were a shadow of this beautiful one. There will be judgement coming forth from this tabernacle. Many O.T. practices are a shadow of what has been, and will be, going on in Heaven: ark of the testimony, tabernacle, altar, incense, etc.. Make sure to study the O.T..
6 And the seven angels came out of the temple, having the seven plagues, clothed in pure and white linen, and having their breasts girded with golden girdles. 7 And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever.
A description of how at least some angels appear. White linen robes with golden girdles at the chest. Will we appear somewhat like the angels? This is how to dress conservatively, godly, holy, appropriately. Oh how far much of our dress standard is from this!
There are 7 plagues here, and 10 with Egypt. Interesting that the ark of the testimony and the song of Moses is mentioned just prior and now we are speaking of plagues; the song of Moses is probably the song he sang at the shore of the Red Sea after all the plagues were finished.
These 4 beasts (Cherubim?) are instrumental in these end time events, and probably many other events for eternity future.
8 And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.
This was done several times prior, when God’s Shekinah glory was manifested; at the dedication of the Tabernacle and then the Temple. Showing of His glory in Heaven secondary to the intense wrath that is pouring out on Earth. The Temple was frequented by the heavenly saints, but now it was unaccessable due to all the glory filling it. God was saying something about this Temple: time on earth is done as we know it; the temple is moving to earth; and eventually this temple will come down in the New Jerusalem.