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.” Revelation 14:7

Revelation 14:1–20 – The Book of Revelation: Worship. Obey. Endure.
Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost  – October 16, 2022 (am)

Fear God and give him glory…, worship him who made heaven and earth (7). That’s a call we hear in today’s passage. And it’s going to be our final word this morning even though here it began a message of looming judgment. But even so, it reflects the sole disposition toward life in this world that can remove the fear of God’s judgment forever and enable us to enter into a state of blessedness and rest (13). These are also in this text.

So, why should this be our take-away today? Let’s look and see.

Here in c.14, we see the fourth (1), fifth (6), and sixth (14) of the seven mini-visions in this closing section (12:1-15:4) of the extended interlude (10:1-15:4) that surrounds the seventh trumpet (11:15-19). I believe all this is subsumed under the seventh trumpet which heralds the return of Christ and the culmination of these extended sequences of conflict between good and evil, between salvation and judgment (age of the Gentiles). These continue through cc.17-18 before Christ’s return moves back into the spotlight in c.19.

All that’s announced or accomplished between the seventh trumpet (11:15-19) and the marriage supper (19:1-10) is assembled together like a collage of flashback and reflection and finishing judgment and the like, all of it tying off loose ends that are brought to a finish by the return of Christ. Let’s look at the three parts of this chapter.

The Offering of Worship – 1-5

1 Then I looked, and behold, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads, reminding us not only of the 144,000 (7:4) we met previously but also of the promise to the church in Philadelphia to whom Jesus said: 3:12 The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. … I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name. But it’s more than just the name on their forehead, Mount Zion is the name of the city of (our) God in Scripture, and being on Mount Zion could mean that this gathering John is seeing is actually in the New Jerusalem (21:2). [Mount Zion] is used of God’s dwelling in the temple and as a term for the people of God. But it most commonly refers to the city that God will establish and rule over at the end of the age (Beale 1999 731). George Ladd (189) adds: This vision is not actually realized until chapters 20-22, but as he often does, John gives his readers anticipatory visions of what is yet to be to steady them for the hard experiences that lie immediately ahead. This is to strengthen us!

So, it appears best to recognize these 144,000 as having arrived in heaven coming out of the great tribulation (7:14; cf. 3). And, as we noted back then, not one of them is missing! And even though vv.4-5 might make it sound like this group is a subset of all believers, distinguishable by their sexual purity and truthfulness, it seems more likely that they represent the full body of Christ that was on earth and is now standing fully redeemed with Jesus in heaven. The reference to their celibacy and virginity, then, is speaking of spiritual purity more than physical. This first description is hard to attribute to women ([they] have not defiled themselves with women) and the second is hard to attribute to men (they are virgins) (Morris 170). But, taken together, this is the bride of Christ and the bride must be chaste (Morris 170). Add to this the fact that all through Scripture, idolatry is labeled as spiritual adultery. Even right here in Rev. on several occasions John speaks of the idolatrous worship of the beast as porneia—fornication (14:8; 17:2, 4; 18:3, 9; 19:2) (Ladd 191). These 144,000 are fully and finally pure (cf. Mat.22:30). And they are devoted to the Lamb (4-5).

In addition to the reappearance of this 144,000 from c.7, the fact that 3 …. they were singing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders folds them in with this same group in c.5. It was after [the Lamb] had taken the scroll (5:8) from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne (5:7) that 5:8 … the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 And they sang a new song, the song of the redeemed, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, 10 and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth. Now the full number of the redeemed (3) have joined in that new song, or surely another that’s very much like it! Harps are present again here, also, and this time it seems like they’re in use! 2 … I heard a voice from heaven like the roar of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder. The voice I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps! The voices are so loud that they echo throughout the halls of heaven (Beale 1999 736). The 144,000 are finished! We see it here: 3 … [they] had been redeemed from the earth! Now there’s great celebration of their salvation, and their victory over the beast! (cf. 15:2)

The Omen of Warning – 6-13

In a very real sense, the Bible is such good news precisely because it’s so clear with us on how much bad news there is. Here we see the bad news (cf. Carson 1995), though it begins well. 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. So, this is it—the last chance. 7 And [the angel] said with a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come, and worship him….” This is the central calling in this book. It’s the highest calling for all humanity, for every image-bearing creature from every nation and tribe and language and people (7). This is the fruit (the outcome, the aim) of the eternal gospel (6).

But this isn’t just the last call to repentance. It’s the declaration of final, personal judgment on the nations and a proclamation of the final destruction of the idolatrous system of [this] world (Beale & McDonough 1132). And this is meticulous judgment! It’s divinely measured out with perfect and absolute, unlimited understanding of each and every offense that’s ever been committed—perfect discernment penetrating to the level of inner motives, not just outward expressions, knowing precisely how to divvy up accountability for every shared misbehavior, conspiracy, and complicity.

The final judgment of such evil announced here is spelled out in more specific detail later (19:11-21; 20:7-15), but that isn’t the focus of this passage here. We see the main point of this chapter in v.12 (Beale 1999 765). 12 Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus and, we might add, who feel the wrath of the beast. This announcement is included, John says, as reassurance to the faithful. This is where following the beast will lead. This is where it ends—in eternal judgment. 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!” Here is the destiny of those who remain faithful to the Lamb even while they’re feeling the wrath of the beast!

The Outpouring of Wrath – 14-20

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. There is much debate over whether this is a vision of Jesus or of yet another glorious angel. The description surely makes it sound like Jesus: one like a son of man, with a golden crown, coming with the clouds (1:7). But there’s more. 15 And another angel came out of the temple, which is the presence of God, the throne room (cf. cc.4-5; Beale 1999 772), 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.” The timing is in God’s hands! Still, it seems odd that Jesus would be subject to the command of an angel. But perhaps He’s not following a command so much as being informed by a messenger from the Father that now is the hour that’s been known only to Him (Mar.13:32). Also, we can’t forget that Paul said the Lord… will descend from heaven with a cry of command, and with the voice of an archangel, not just with the sound of the trumpet of God (1Th.4:16). 16 So he who sat on the cloud, Whom we believe to be the returning Jesus, swung his sickle across the earth, and the earth was reaped. He harvested the spiritual wheat, leaving the tares (Mat.13:24-30), which here are represented as grapes (18-20) (see Ladd 200, Beale 1999 772-775).

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.” This is the gathering of the unrighteous for judgment. 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. This is a graphic picture that returns in more detail in 19:11-21. But even here it’s vivid. The wicked are depicted as grapes to be trodden. The juice is their blood! 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, roughly 184 miles, the full length of Israel (Ladd 202). This may be the point of reference for this description; equivalent to saying throughout the land. But either as the square of forty (a traditional number of punishment; think of the wilderness wanderings), or as ten-squared times four-squared (two of those apocalyptic numbers we’ve mentioned before) (Beale 1999 782), it would be more universal. Harder to understand is blood… as high as the horse’s bridle. Whether it’s just hyperbole, or a reference to splattering or the like, it’s vivid and clear in the idea it’s intended to portray.

Conclusion

So, what is our encouragement, our take-away, or transformational intent after walking through a passage like this that anticipates final salvation and judgment? Surely there are at least three things we can know from this passage that will help us hear and embrace the call for endurance (12) that stands at the heart of it—three things that are reinforced here—before we affirm one final reassurance.

1. All things are in God’s hands (the hour of his judgment has come [7]; the hour to reap has come [15]). He’s in charge of everything that happens in this world, including the timing of its occurrence. We’ve seen this over and over again, and we can trust God in this.

2. We are all accountable to God (we see that throughout this passage [especially 7, 14-20]). We can be fully confident of this. We will all answer to Him, even those among us who don’t believe in Him.

3. Serving God will not go unrewarded (blessed are those who die in the Lord from now on… that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them [13]). No one will get to the end of His life wishing he’d given less time to pursuing God, obeying God, loving God and loving people, to denying self, denying sin, denying the desires of the flesh. We will never regret turning from sin toward God.

And that leads us right into the one final reassurance, the closing charge that I’d like to leave with you today. Paul wrote to the Corinthians about the last days and their surety, their certain hope, in the resurrection. He even made mention of the last trumpet (1Co.15:52) as he was heading toward a final reassurance, a closing charge, that is much in keeping with v.13 here. 1Co.15:58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

This is our calling today. It’s our final reassurance because it’s most certainly true. But it’s also our closing charge. It’s our take-away from Rev.14. In fact, it’s our guiding principle for every single day of life our Father allows for us in this sin-saturated world. Regardless of the opposition we face from within our own hearts, from the world around us, and from the unseen enemies that stand behind both (cf. Eph.6:12), this principle will sustain us, keep us on course, help us live today exhibiting the mark of the Lamb. 1Co.15:58 … be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. This is what it looks like when we fear God and give him glory, when we worship him who made heaven and earth (7) and so enter into the blessedness and rest that’s ours in Him.

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Resources

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NEXT WEEK’S SERMON: Seven Bowls Full of the Wrath of God, Revelation 15:1–16:21