The
American
Wisdom Series
Presents
Revelation chapter 14
Rev. 14:1And 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.
The qualifier in this verse, "having His and His Father's name (as the texts read) written in their foreheads", lets us know that these are the same 144,000.
Let's review from chapter 7:
Rev. 7:2
And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, [3] Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. [4] And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.
Rev. 14:2 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.
Yes, they made a joyful noise before the LORD. (We'll document that it was the Song of Moses when we get to chapter 15.)
Please notice that these are only the 144,000, redeemed from the earth, redeemed from this earth age, singing at this time and not God's elect. God's elect were chosen before the foundation of the world, before this earth age. Of course the 144,000 were redeemed from the earth by the Blood of the Lamb but it was His elect that help to seal them.
Virgins? They're virgins? Do you think there's 144,000 virgins left in this society?[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.
Flesh, flesh. Our minds seem to always go there first, don't they? But we know this doesn't mean they never had sex. These folks were not "spiritually seduced" by Satan and his angels into believing the Great Lie! Which was what? That the one sitting in the temple was Jesus Christ as Paul so warned in 2 Thes. 2. Remember Satan deceives the whole world with his miracles and his great and prosperous "Peace on Earth" society, which means they all got screwed!
You can look up the word "guile" if you so desire, but this verse pretty much speaks for itself.[5] And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.
The Word of God is eternal, it is forever. And yes, there will be preaching and teaching during the Millennium. It is also documented in the closing chapters of Ezekiel. Begin with chapter 44 and read on.[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,
The sand has run out of the hour glass. It is time to pay up! There will be judgment when Christ returns, both good and bad, so give glory and honor and reverence to God. We will read of some of this judgment in this chapter.[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.
[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.
And if you know the history of that first great city, Babylon, founded by the "seed" (offspring of the serpent), who was Cain sent forth into the land of Nod, who is also known as Sargon the Magnificent in secular history, then you know how perverse and idolatrous the first world empire was at the beginning. So shall it be at the end.
Do you recall in Daniel chapter 2 the image that Nebuchadnezzar saw, with Babylon as the first "one world political system", the head of gold? Well, the last "one world political system", is the "beast" we just studied in Rev. 13:1, the one with the 10 "crowns", i.e. kings, remember? It is the same as the fourth kingdom of iron in Nebuchadnezzar's image, the one with the 10 "toes" identified as "kings" in verse 44 of Dan. 2, and it is smashed by Jesus Christ at his return. Then the angel of Rev. 14:8 will say "Babylon is fallen, is fallen."
Isn't it amazing how we've seen all of this before in the Word of God? The scripture so rings true as it is recorded in Eccles. 1:9 "... there is no new thing under the sun."
Here's the account in Daniel:
Daniel 2:40
And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise.[42] And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.
[43] And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.
[44] And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.
[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,
Now I don't know about you, but I sometimes have difficulty with the way they spoke in 1611 England. The revisers help a little bit, but my brain isn't so formal and it has to put verses like these into words I can better relate to:[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:
Got it? Because if you want to make it more difficult than that, then you don't understand the simplicity of what is being said."And the 3rd angel followed the other 2 angels and said loud enough so everyone could hear him, 'If anyone participates with Satan's activities in any way shape or form, he's really going to 'get it' from our Father according to His Word, who will give it to him with the fire and brimstone paddle, right in front of everyone in total anguishing humiliation!"
And by the way, the "cup of His indignation" is the same cup that Jesus desired could pass from Him in the garden. It was the cup of wrath to be poured out, not a cup of fear. Christ was never afraid to pay the price! He came for that express purpose.
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.
Anyway, here's verse 11 with some updated figures of speech:
"The aftermath of their punishment will reach to high heaven and they are going work their butts off (during the whole period of the Millennium.)"
Judged according to their works!Rev. 20:12
And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
IF you don't have a Companion Bible you can Download a Companion Bible free at: http://www.companionbiblecondensed.com/ When you open site click unto and download one book at a time unto your disk or hard drive.
and the appendix at: http://www.markfoster.net/rn/companion_bible_appendices.pdf
Rev. 14:12 Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.
Again, if you are not familiar with the Greek words translated "dead" in the New Testament (see appendix 139 in the Companion Bible), then just read "those" for "the dead", i.e. "Blessed are those which die in the Lord from henceforth".Rev. 14:13
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.
Why? Yea, saith the spirit, they get to rest during the Millennium, the day of rest, instead of working their butts off day and night while awaiting the great white throne judgment and the hope of the second resurrection! So you see, your works do follow you, don't they?
It's the Day of the Lord, the first day of Millennium here on earth. Jesus Christ has returned to reap the harvest of that good seed which He has sown (Mat. 13) and to exercise judgment and pour out "the cup of wrath" on the wicked.
In the first few verses of this chapter 14 we saw the "Happy Time" of the Day of the Lord when the overcomers were singing and the heavenly orchestra was playing and the saints were with Jesus on Mount Zion.
Now, in the remaining verses of this chapter 14 we are going to SEE a very graphic PICTURE of what the "No-So-Happy Time" looks like for those who are not standing on Mount Zion.
We continue with John's description:
Jesus Christ returns with a Golden Crown upon His head, for He returns as King of kings and Lord of lords. No longer does He have a crown of thorns, a crown of humiliation on His head. And now it's harvest time and He will do the reaping and the threshing.Rev. 14:14
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.
The Father knows and determines the exact times, for no man knows precisely. Now here comes word from a messenger who was in the temple, where He sits, and the word is "The time has come", "The harvest of the earth is ripe", which simply means it's judgment time![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.
Here comes another messenger out from the temple he also has a sharp sickle to do some reaping. But...[17] And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle.
Uh oh! Here comes an angel from the "altar" this time to give instructions to the one with the sharp sickle! You remember what comes from the altar, don't you? Fire! Remember what we read in our last study in Rev. 14:10 "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:" Well, here it comes![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.
But it would seem that there's somewhat of a problem here. The problem is that you don't harvest "grapes" with a sickle! It gets real messy!
Yes, God is going to "Put the Squeeze on Them" for their wickedness is great.[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.
What does it mean "without the city? Without or outside the city simply means the wrath of God is not poured out on His children who love Him, because do you remember where they are? They are with Him on Mount Zion, which is where John saw Jesus standing in verse 1, which is "within in the city".
Is all this something brand new that we are reading in the Book of Revelation? Hardly. Remember we have said repeatedly that if you are familiar with the Word of God then by the time you get to the Book of the Revelation you'll have seen and read it all before?
Well, the prophet Joel told us EXACTLY the same thing about the judgment we just read of on the Day of the Lord. Have you read it?
Let's do it now.
Joel writes the words of the Lord who says "Wake Up" for I will bring Judgment to the Valley of Decision, to those heathen "round about", i.e. "without the city" as we just read in Rev. 14:20.Joel 3:12-15
Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about.
There's the same sickle of Revelation! And it's the harvest time! Thrust it in and cast those wicked grapes into the winepress![13] Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great.
Here's the definition of "fats" word for word from Strong's Concordance:
yeqeb, yeh'-keb, Hebrew 3342; from an unused root meaning to excavate; a trough (as dug out); specifically a wine-vat (whether the lower one, into which the juice drains; or the upper, in which the grapes are crushed) :- fats, presses, press-fat, wine (-press).There will be so much juice draining from this press it will produce a river as high as a horse's bridle and farther than the eye can see! Squish! SEE THE PICTURE!
And when does all this occur? Joel tells us!
Oh, the Day of the Lord! Is God's Word consistent and accurate from beginning to end or what?Joel 3:14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.
And when the "multitudes, multitudes" are squeezed in the winepress (figuratively of course) there will be more than a few drops of blood (figuratively of course). There will be river of blood! Yeeccchhh! I think I'd rather be standing on Mount Zion.
By the way, here's the definition of "blood" used in the last verse of Revelation 14:
So here's a question. Have you ever read the Book of Joel, whose name means "Yah is God"? Has your pastor or minister ever taught it to you? All Christians should know it thoroughly. Peter knew it and because he did, he KNEW what was happening on that first Pentecost Day when he stood up and quoted directly from it. Joel describes the locusts of the locust army we read about in Revelation chapter 9. And it contains much information about the Day of the Lord and the judgment which we just read of.haima, hah'ee-mah, Greek 129; of uncertain derivative; blood, literal (of men or animals), figurative (the juice of grapes) or special (the atoning blood of Christ); by implication bloodshed, also kindred :- blood.
As a final thought, in the next chapter of Revelation, chapter 15, we will see the overcomers singing the Song of Moses, which is the 32nd chapter of Deuteronomy (Deut. 31:30 And Moses spake in the ears of all the congregation of Israel the words of this song, until they were ended.)
You see, we know who the true vine is. Jesus said in John 15:1 "I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman." But just as their rock is not our Rock, their vine is not our Vine:
And they are going to get their grapes smashed! Ouch!Deut. 32:32-43
For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah: their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter:
Their "truth" comes from the dragon himself, that old serpent, Satan! They'll also get squashed![33] Their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps.
[34] Is not this laid up in store with me, and sealed up among my treasures? [35] To me belongeth vengeance, and recompence; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste.