Revelation Chapter 14
14:1 The redeemed will be seen with Jesus. The Lamb is Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, the One whom all true believers love and adore and long to be with. He is the Lamb who was slain for our sins, the Lamb who took all our sins upon Himself and died for them, the Lamb who sacrificed Himself for us so that we might be acceptable to God
Look where He stands: on Mount Sion. Mount Sion was another name for Jerusalem. It has always been used to refer to heaven itself, to the heavenly Jerusalem. Here Mount Sion means the heavenly city of God, heaven itself. These dear believers are seen with the Lord Jesus Christ in heaven.
Who is with Him: the one hundred and forty four thousand Jews who had taken a vow to stand up for Christ, the Christian Jews who had not denied Him during the holocaust of the antichrist. Their commitment will be rewarded: they will be with the Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Matthew 13:43
Romans 8:17
Philippians 3:21
Colossians 3:4
Rev 22:5
John 12:26
Sealed: the redeemed will be sealed with God’s name, with the name of the Lamb’s Father. This tells us why they will be in heaven: they will be identified with Christ and God. They will refuse to take the seal of the antichrist
There are many antichrists in the world now, many false teachers, who deny that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Son of God We must guard against these antichrists, these false teachers. We must believe in the Lamb of God, in. the Lord Jesus Christ, the very Son of God who came to take away the sins of the world.
14:2 Voice, of God: the redeemed will hear the voice of God.
Imagine having the glorious privilege to hear the voice of God!
It will be the most wonderful privilege imaginable, and it will be the privilege of the 144,000 Jewish servants who will be faithful to Christ and to the dear believers in the tribulation.
1. The voice of God is like the sound of many waters: forceful and mighty, as powerful as the sound of many Niagara Falls or of many rushing and mountainous waves of the sea. Yet the many waters can also be the quieting, comforting, and peaceful rippling of many creeks. When we hear the voice of God we know that it is Him speaking, for it will be both powerful and comforting at the same time.
2. The voice of God is like the sound of thunder: deep, rumbling, arousing, stirring, and distinctive. When He speaks, we will be aroused and stirred from what we are doing. His voice will demand full attention.
What a lesson for us today. How we should be listening to the voice of God in His Word. His Word is just as powerful as His voice will be when we get to heaven. The problem is this: we are not listening to His Word, not nearly as much as we should be.
3. The voice of God is like the sound of many harps: restful, calming, soothing, relaxing, and fulfilling. Soft music does this for us, and God’s voice is just like soft music: it can calm our hearts in the most troublesome of times. And oh how the voice of God will need to be heard in the tribulation
The point is this: the 144,000 will be rewarded with the voice of God. They will have the glorious privilege of hearing the voice of God.
14:3 The redeemed will be uniquely privileged. They will have a song of victory to sing before the entire heavenly host. But note: the words of the song are not here or anywhere else given. We will not know the words until the glorious day of redemption comes. However, what a glorious privilege! To have a special song to sing and present to all the beings of heaven. The Jews who receive the Lord Jesus Christ and vow to be the servants of God during the great tribulation will be given a special song of victory. They shall triumph over the antichrist and his holocaust and over evil and death. They shall live forevermore in the presence of our God and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. When they arrive in heaven victorious and triumphant, they will have something to sing about: the glorious victory given them in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Psalm 9:1
Psalm 33:2
Psalm 67:3
Psalm 95:1
14:4-5 The redeemed will be clearly identified. Who are the 144,000 Jews? They were seen earlier in Revelation
Note what is said about them here.
I. They will be virgins: they will never marry. The days of the end time will be filled with horror after horror: the worst holocaust the world has ever witnessed will be launched by the antichrist and millions will be killed. A special commitment will be needed to stand up for Christ. Apparently, these 144,000 form a body of believers who vow and commit their lives to never deny Christ. They apparently take a special vow to be the ministers to the people who will be so severely attacked and persecuted by the antichrist.
Ro.15:1
(Mk.l0:28).
(Lk.5:27-28)(Lk.14:33)
2. They will be followers of the Lamb: wholly committed to Jesus Christ and separated from the sin and evil of this world, that is, from the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and from the pride of life. They will be servants and ministers of God who will follow the leadership of the Lord’s Spirit: they will go throughout the wildernesses and hiding places of this earth to minister to the millions trying to escape the holocaust of the antichrist. They will follow the Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ, no matter where He leads and no matter how difficult the call and ministry may be. They will sell out completely to the Lord Jesus Christ.
What a dynamic lesson on commitment! How desperately we need to be just as committed as these dear servants of the Lord will be!
Lk.9:23
Lk.14:26-27
John.l0:27
John 12:26
Ro.8:13
GaI.5:24 Col.2:6 1 Pt.2:21
3. They will be the redeemed from among men, the first fruits to God and the Lamb. This simply means that the will be the first Jews to be saved in the tribulation.
4. They will be truthful, never lying or telling a falsehood. Apparently this will be part of the vow the group of believers will take. It will be easy in the days of the antichrist to simply lie and say that one will give his first loyalty to the antichrist and his state and then to continue on worshipping God in the secret of one’s home. But this is a lie, and th 144,000 will take a vow to never lie
This is a day of untruthfulness, lying, and deception. Practically everyone lies and deceives:
=>husbands and wives and children => rulers and leaders
=> employers and employees => the educated and the uneducated
=> students and teachers => ministers and laymen
=> neighbors and friends => politicians and citizens
The call of the day is for truthfulness-a commitment to the truth. We desperately need real men and re~ women who will make a vow to be truthful and never to lie or deceive.
JOHN.8:44
1 Pt.2:22
1 In.2:22
ps.32:2
Zeph.3:13
5. They will be blameless: unspotted, undefiled, unpolluted, and without blemish before God. They will commit am
set their lives completely apart unto God.
Just imagine being blameless before God-living such a life that one would be totally unspotted, undefiled, unpolluted, and without blemish. What a challenge! How desperately real men and real women arc needed today-men and women so strong that they will commit themselves to being blameless before God and the world.
Romans 6: 13
Romans 12:1-2
I Cor 6: 19-20
2 Cor 6: 17-18
I Peter 1: 18-19
14:6The messenger who will have the gospel will be an angel.
Does this mean that he will have the gospel to preach himself or that he will have the gospel to give to believers to preach?
Or is this just a picture that the gospel will be preached throughout the whole world in the end time? Christ Himself, when He was on earth, predicted the evangelization of the whole world (Mt.24: 14).
There are those who think that evil will be so rampant in the end time and that believers will be on the run so much from the holocaust of the antichrist that they will not be able to preach and spread the Word. They think that God will have to change His method of getting the gospel out to the world, change it by going back to using angels just like He did in the Old Testament period of history
There are others who think that this is a vision symbolizing the preaching of the gospel to the world. Whatever the case, remember this: God’s people and the Jews are going to be scattered allover the earth, hiding and scratching for food wherever they can. They will have to be fleeing in order get away from the holocaust of the antichrist. But God’s people, His true servants, always share the gospel wherever they are to whomever they feel they can trust. Remember also that the earth will help to hide and feed the Jews and the followers of Christ just as they have in every holocaust. Not every unbeliever is hard-hearted even in the end time (Rev. 12:16).
The Jewish servants, the 144,000 who have committed themselves to minister to God’s people, will certainly be witnessing. They will no doubt be moving out into the wilderness areas and hiding places of the world themselves. That will be where God’s people, the Jews, will be. And that is the only place the 144,000 Jewish servants will probably be safe. Also remember that civilization and the population are going to be shrunk much smaller than what they are now. There will be vast devastation upon the earth and whole areas of the earth will become uninhabitable, totally unsuitable for human life
In addition to all this, think of the witnessing that will be going on among the numberless multitude of Gentiles that will be converted throughout the tribulation of the end time. God’s people, His true followers, are never silent. They always talk about and share Christ among one another and to those who befriend and help them. And one thing is sure: when so many earthly horrors and supernatural catastrophes and events are taking place in the end time, no believer will keep silent, not when he is with other believers and people who are kind enough to help hide him from the holocaust.
The point is this: there will be witnessing in the last days. The glorious gospel will be proclaimed by God’s people. And if they for some unknown reason hush, God will proclaim the gospel of His Son through angels. As Jesus Himself said to the religionists of His day: if the people keep silent, then the very stones themselves will cry out (Lk.19:40).
The gospel must be proclaimed to the whole earth. Not a single place must be missed. It must be proclaimed to every nation, tribe, language, and people.
Rev 14:7
1. There will be the message to fear God.
Few people fear God. This is what God calls the day of grace, the day when He reaches out for people in love. But the day of His judgment is coming. This is the very message of Revelation. Therefore, we must fear God even in this day of grace and love. God tolerates our rebellion and denial of Him only for now, only to give us a chance to be saved and to escape the coming judgment. But this chance is going to soon pass. We must, therefore, repent and fear God and do what the next point says, "Worship Him."
Matthew 10:28 I Peter 1: 17
Luke 1:50
2. There will be the message to worship God.
Matthew 4:10 John 4: 21
Rev 14: 7
14:8 the fall is announced-Babylon is fallen. In the Old Testament Babylon was the great enemy of Israel
Because of this, the very name of Babylon came to stand for...
· . a corrupt political system that stood against God.
· . a corrupt economic system that stood against God.
· . a corrupt religion that stood against God.
Babylon symbolized the political, economic, and religious center of a godless society. It was a society-nation or government or religion-that defied God.
Here in the Revelation Babylon stands for the city of the antichrist, the capital of the world: it stands for the political and economic system which he establishes.
Isaiah 21:9
Rev 18: 2
Jer 51: 8
Jer 50:2
There is the reason why Babylon will be destroyed.
Why will the political and religious system of the world be destroyed in the end time?
Is not a one-world government and religion a good thing?
Will not the dream of men for a one-world government and religion bring the kingdom of utopia to earth?
This verse says that Babylon will be destroyed for one reason: she will make all nations drink of the wine of her fornication. The picture is two fold.
1. Babylon, the end time government, will be like a prostitute who entites men into bed with her by giving them wine and getting them so intoxicated that they can no longer resist her seduction.
2. The end time government will be just like the prostitute: Babylon will seduce and entice the governments of the world to join her in her corruption.
14:9 There are the persons to be judged. The judgment of God is going to fall upon all those who follow the beast and receive the mark of the beast
This mark will show that a person gives his first loyalty and allegiance to the state and secular society and its leader, the antichrist.
The person who declares his allegiance, who worships and puts the state and secular society before God-that is the person who will receive the mark of the beast.
He is the person who will be saying to God...
· that God is second.
· . that the state and its leader are more important than God.
· . that the state and its leader can do more for man than God.
· . that society needs to focus upon the state and its leader, not God.
Note how this belief runs through society today. In fact it is a common belief that runs through every generation.
There are always multitudes who believe that man can control his own destiny, that what is important is good government, good education, good medicine, good social services, and on and on.
14:10-11There is the judgment. Four things are said about the judgment of God.
1. The ungodly and evil will drink the wrath and anger of God.
When thinking of the judgment of God, we must never forget a significant fact: God must keep heaven perfect. When He creates the new heavens and earth, He has to exclude and shut out all those
who have cursed, denied, disbelieved, and rejected Him.
who are hostile and who are enemies of Him and His righteousness.
who do not want His control and restraint upon their lives.
who reject the righteousness of God’s Son and do not let it cover them; who refuse to believe that Christ is the sinless Son of God who died for their sins.
God has no choice but to keep all these out of heaven.
Remember something else as well: God has given man every chance;
He has done everything that can be done to reach out and save man.
He has sent man prophet after prophet and given man His Word. And most of all, He has given the world His own Son to save man.
But man continues to reject and deny and even curse His Son.
The ungodly will drink the cup of God’s wrath: that is, the wrath of God will be drunk and will permeate their whole being, move throughout their whole body. It will be thorough and all inclusive. Not a part of the ungodly’s being, not a moment of the ungodly’s time will be free from the wrath of God.
ð The ungodly will drink the cup of God’s wrath without any mixture. Nothing else will be mixed with His wrath, no love, no feelings of sympathy, no regret, no compassion. The full wrath of God will fall upon the ungodly.
ð The ungodly will suffer a double portion of God’s judgment: the cup of His wrath and the cup of His anger.
John .3:36
Ro.l:18
3. The ungodly and evil will be tormented with fire and brimstone. This is a probably a picture of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Gen 19: 23-24
This is undoubtedly the most terrorizing judgment that has ever fallen upon the earth up to this time. Men sometime scoff at the idea of a coming judgment, and they doubt that two cities were ever destroyed as Scripture says that Sodom and Gomorrah were. But several hundred years after the event, the Lord Himself confirmed the fact, and He declared this the same fire and brimstone were going to fall upon the ungodly and evil in the day of judgment.
’.
Mt.l0:15
Mt.ll:24
Lk.l0:12
Lk.17:29
Fire and brimstone is the picture of the hot flaming molten lava that flows from the mouth of a volcano that erupted.
It is a terrible thought to think that a person would choose to spend eternity suffering as though he was caught the bed of fire and brimstone.
This is a horrible picture, and it is not a pleasant thought, but we must always remember two things
1) These are not the words of a preacher. They are the words and warnings of Scripture. Scripture is honest and true; therefore, if there is truly a place that is like suffering in fire and brimstone.. then Scripture will tell us. This must never be overlooked: Scripture does tell us. Therefore, part bf the Judgment of hell will be just like suffering in fire and brimstone.
2) Today, right now, is the day of God’s love and grace. Therefore, we must cast ourselves upon God’s love.
We must heed the warning of fire and brimstone and repent and turn to God.
3.The ungodly and evil will be tormented in the presence of the holy angels and Christ.
Christ will give the order to cast unbelievers into hell and the holy angels will carry out the orders.
Christ will be there and every eye of all unbelievers will see Him. Why? So that He will be vindicated as the Son of God. The vast, vast majority of the human race denies, curses, and rejects Jesus Christ as the Son of God.
4. The ungodly and evil will be tormented forever and ever.
We must all face this one fact: if Jesus Christ is truly the Son of God and if Scripture is truly the Scripture of God,
Then we are doomed to eternal punishment if we reject Jesus Christ. This is the teaching both of Jesus Christ and of Scripture.
A great day of separation is coming, a day when all those who believe in Jesus Christ will be separated from those who have denied, disbelieved, and cursed God and Christ. The unbeliever is not going to live in the same world that the believer will live in.
Mt.13:41-42
Mt.18:8
Rev.14:10
14:13 There are the dead who die in the Lord. What does it mean to die in the Lord?
It means that a person lived in the Lord when he was on earth. It means that when he was living, he believed in the Lord Jesus Christ and followed after the Lord with all his heart and life. Therefore when he faced death, he was in the Lord: he died being in the Lord.
When a person truly believes in Christ, God places and positions him in Christ, in all that Christ is. Christ lived and died and arose, so to be in Christ means that a person lives, dies, and arises in Christ.
The person who believes in Jesus Christ is identified with Christ: that is, he is counted and considered to be "in Christ," reckoned and credited as being "in Christ. "
To be in Christ means that a believer walks and lives in Christ day by day.
It means that he does not "walk after the flesh, but after the Spirit" (Ro.8:1, 4). It means that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, he should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world (Tit.2:12).
It means that he bears the fruit of the Spirit (Ga1.5:22-23).
3. There is the reward of heavenly work to do.
Heaven is not going to be inactivity like so many people think: ~
It will not be floating around on a fluffy cloud playing a harp.
This would be no way to spend eternity.
It will not be standing around singing the praises of God all the time. No doubt there will be an unbroken fellowship and communion with Him. But standing around and doing nothing but singing and praising the Lord and doing that on and on and on forever and ever would be no way to spend eternity.
Our Lord is worthy of more than just words and music.
Heaven is going to be full of both worship and service, and we stress that it will be service because of the tendency tognore the fact. Remember two significant things:.
b. Genuine believers are to be made kings and priests in heaven. We are going to rule and reign with Christ, rule and reign under the leadership, direction, and supervision of Christ. Jesus Christ and Scripture make this perfectly clear. Believers shall be rewarded with work to do and be made responsible for position and rule.
Rewards Dealing with our Nature or State of Being
=> Being adopted as a son of God (Gal.4:4-7; 1 In.3:1).
=> Being made blameless and harmless (Ph.2:15).
=> Being given eternal life (In.3:16; 1 Tim.6:19).
=> Being given an enduring substance (Heb.1O:34).
=> Being given a glorious body (Ph.3:11, 21; 1 Cor.15:42-44).
=> Being given eternal glory and honor and peace (Ro.2: 10)
=> Being given eternal rest and peace (Heb.4:9; Rev.14:13).
=> Being given the blessings of the Lord (pr.l0:22).
=> Being given the knowledge of Christ Jesus (ph.3:8).
=> Being given durable riches and righteousness (Pr.8:18).
=> Being made priests (Rev.20:6).
=> Being given a crown of incorruption (1 Cor.9:25).
=> Being given a crown of righteousness (2 Tim.4:8).
=> Being given a crown of life (Jas.l: 12).
=> Being given a crown of glory (1 Pt.5:4).
Rewards Dealing with Work or Position or Rule
=> Being made exalted beings (Rev.7:9-12).
=> Being made ruler over many things (Mt.25:23).
=> Being given the Kingdom of God (Jas.2:5; Mt.25:34).
=> Being given a position or rule and authority (Lk.12:42-44; Lk.22:28-29; 1 Cor.6:2-3).
=> Being given eternal responsibility and joy (Mt.25:21, 23).
=> Being given rule and authority over cities (Lk.19: 17, 19).
=> Being given thrones and the privilege of reigning forever (Rev.20:4; 22:5).
=> Being given the privilege of surrounding the throne of God (Rev.7:9-13; 20:4).
=> Being made priests (Rev.20:6).
=> Being made kings (Rev. 1:5; 5:10).
Rewards Dealing with our Inheritance or Wealth
=> Being made an heir of God (Ro.8: 16-17; Tit. 3 :7).
=> Being given an incorruptible inheritance (1 Pt.l:3-4).
=> Being given the blessings of the Lord (Pr.1O:22).
=> Being given durable riches and righteousness (Pr.8:18).
=> Being given unsearchable riches (Eph.3:8).
=> Being given treasures in heaven (Mt.19:21; Lk.12:33).
14: 14
When He came to earth, He suffered through all the temptations and trials of life just as all ’ men do. But there was one vast difference: Jesus Christ never sinned. He was sinless. Therefore, He is the Ideal Man, the Representative Man, the Perfect Man, the embodiment of everything a man ought to be. Jesus Christ is the perfect picture of a man. Everything that God wants a man to be is seen perfectly in Jesus Christ.
The title also stresses the Ideal Servant of man. When Jesus Christ came to earth, He loved and cared for the poor, the broken-hearted, the captive, the blind, the bruised, the outcast, the bereaved. Jesus Christ is the perfect and ideal example of concern and caring. He secured and set an example of how every person ought to serve others.
people do not believe this. They do not believe that God sent His Son into the world to save them
. People reject Jesus Christ as the sinless Son of God, as the perfect Son of Man, as the ideal of what all sons of men should be. Some are willing to accept Him as a great teacher and religious leader, but they rebel against, deny, and even curse Him as the Son of Man.
how He will return.
1. Jesus Christ shall return in a white cloud: white symbolizes the purity of heaven. He will be coming...
· . from the world of purity and godliness.
· . in the purity and godliness of heaven.
· . to bring purity and godliness to the whole universe.
2. Jesus Christ shall return wearing a gold crown.
Gold symbolizes value and preciousness, and the crown symbolizes royalty, rule, dominion, and sovereignty.
Jesus Christ is coming to take His rightful place in the world, to conquer all the ungodliness and evil of the world and to bring the rule and reign of God to the universe. Nothing could be any more precious nor of any more value than the rule of God upon earth.
3. Jesus Christ shall return with a sharp sickle in His hand. The sickle is a sharp tool with a long knife-like edge used to harvest the grain of the fields. This is a picture of judgment. In the end time when Jesus Christ returns, He will be returning with the sickle in His hand. He will be returning to judge the world.
"Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels" (Mk.8:38).
"For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; and
hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man" (John 5:26-27).
"
And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of
God" (Acts 7:56).
14:15-16 There is the harvest of the earth, the separation of believers from the ungodly and evil of the earth. The scene is spectacular and awesome:
there is Jesus Christ hovering over the earth with a sickle in His hand, and in a moment’s time every eye sees Him. The sight is wonderful and glorious to believers, for it means that the great day of their redemption has come. But it means fear and horror to unbelievers, for it means that the great day of God’s wrath has come to fall upon them..
1. First, note that the harvest of the earth will be ripe. Another angel comes out of the temple of God, that is, out of heaven itself. This means that he comes from the very presence of God and is bringing the very message of God. What he has to say is from God Himself. What is the message? The harvest of the earth is ripe. The time for God’s Son, the Son of Man, to reap has come. Therefore, the shout of the angel is, "Thrust in your sickle and reap!"
Look tthe reference is to Christ Himself. It is time for Him to reap His harvest, those who belong to Him.
It is time for Him to separate His own followers from the ungodly and evil and to take His followers to be with Him. Keep in mind that this is speaking of the end time, right before the world is to end. The believers,
.
2. Second, note that the harvest takes place (v.16). Jesus Christ "thrusts in the sickle on the earth; and the earth is reaped." The believers are harvested; they are taken out of the world and away from its ungodliness and evil. They are harvested to be with Christ forever and ever. They are delivered and freed from all the toil and sufferings of this earth. Never again will a believer...
· . suffer due to the mistreatment of an ungodly person.
· . suffer due to hunger or cold or heat.
· . suffer due to disease or accident.
· . suffer due to toil and exhaustion.
· . suffer due to temptation and trial.
· . suffer due to sin and ungodliness and evil and death.
Never again will the believer suffer a single tear. The believers of the end time, those dear people who trust and stand for Christ against the antichrist and his godless society-all believers are going to be harvested and taken home to heaven to be with Christ forever and ever.
Christ is going to join us together: us and all of our dear loved ones who have gone before and all of the tribulation saints. Jesus Christ is going to take us all and form one great massive society with which He is going to populate the new heavens and earth.
This is the picture of the wheat being separated from the tares, the picture of the Son of Man reaping His harvest, His fruit, His people. This is exactly what Christ and Scripture say.
"Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn" (Mt.13:30).
"So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from
among the just" (Mt.13:49).
"And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as
a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats" (Mt.25:32).
"Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and will gather the wheat into
his garner; but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable" (Lk.3:17).
"And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence" (Lk.16:26).
"Evil pursueth sinners: but to the righteous good shall be repaid" (Pr.13:21).
14:17 there is the harvester, a great angel.
He comes out of the temple of God. This means he is from heaven, from God, from the very presence of
God and on a special mission for God.
He holds a sharp sickle in his hand, the threshing tool of the farmer or vineyard keeper.
14: 18-19) There is the terror of the harvest of the ungodly.
1. There will be the terror of the angelic cry. This is a second angel, but he does not come from God’s presence. He comes from the altar of incense, that is, from the altar where the prayers of God’s people are kept, and where the martyred saints of Christ are stationed in heaven
a. The angel has the power of fire. This means that the fire of God’s judgment is to be cast upon the earth and
all unbelievers are to be consumed.
b. The angel cries out for judgment to begin. Note how the ungodly and evil of the earth are said to be clusters
of grapes hanging on the vine of the earth. There are two vines in the earth: the vine of Jesus Christ and the vine of the world.
~
Jesus Christ said that He is the vine and His followers are the branches.
John 15:5
A person chooses upon which vine he will hang. He chooses which cluster of grapes he wishes to be a part: the followers of Jesus Christ or the followers of the world and of the antichrist, the followers of righteousness or the followers of the ungodly and evil.
"But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the
harvest is come" (Mk.4:29).
"Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the
valley of decision" (Joel 3:14).
"Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation" (2 Cor .6:2).
2. There will be the time of God’s wrath. This is a frightening picture of terror and horror, of the terrible judgment to come.
"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" (v.19).
The angel lifts the sickle high into the air and with the swift stroke of God’s omnipotent power, he thrusts the sickle of
eternal judgment into the earth. The vine of the earth is cut, all the ungodly and evil of the earth are...
. cut down and gathered together. .
. cast into the winepress of God’s wrath.
What is the winepress of God’s wrath? The winepress was a trough usually made out of either stone or brick that was
placed over a large vat. The grapes off the vine were placed into the trough. People would trample the grapes and the juice
would flow through holes in the bottom of the trough into the vat underneath.
This is a graphic picture of the wrath of God. God’s wrath will be like the trampling of grapes underfoot. The picture is
that of no mercy, no compromise, and no grace. The picture is twofold.
a. The trampling of the grapes was deliberate. It was purposeful. It was to get the juice out of the grapes not to save the grapes. There was no love, no compassion, no feelings for the grapes. The grapes were to be trampled underfoot. This will be the wrath of God. God’s wrath will be deliberate and purposeful. It will be to execute perfect justice upon the ungodly and evil of this world. There will be no love, no compassion, no mercy, no feelings extended out in the terrible day of the harvest of the earth. All persons, every single one of us, will stand before God who is perfectly just, who in His perfection of justice must execute justice upon
all persons. All the ungodly and evil of this world will be cast into the winepress of God’s wrath and tram-’
pled underfoot without any compassion or mercy.
b. The trampling of the grapes was thorough. The clusters of grapes were trampled and trampled until every single grape was crushed. So shall the wrath of God be. God’s wrath will be thorough. Not a single person shall escape the wrath of God. All the ungodly and evil of this world shall be placed in the winepress of God’s holy wrath. God’s wrath will execute perfect justice. God will be totally unlike man: He will show no partiality, no favoritism, and no discrimination. God will see that all persons receive exactly what they deserve, exactly what their works were upon earth. God will see that every unjust and ungodly and evil act against God and others is repaid-measured out exactly on the basis of what each person did. God’s wrath
will be perfect retribution. No ungodly person will be judged for anything that he did not do. But he will be. judged for what he did do. The ungodly and evil are guilty: they never trusted Jesus Christ to bear the guilt of their ungodliness and evil for them. Therefore, they must bear the guilt themselves; they must suffer the wrath of God. And the wrath of God is going to trample underfoot all the ungodly and evil of this world.
"I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me: for 1 will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and 1 will stain all my raiment" (Is.63:3).
14:20 Armageddon-Judgment: there is the terror of Armageddon, the place where the wrath of God is to fall.
1. The winepress of God’s judgment is trampled down "outside the city." "The city" always refers to Jerusalem.
This is a reference to what the Bible and believers calL..
· . the great battle of Armageddon
· . the great day of the Lord
· . the final battle of human history
· . the judgment of God upon the ungodly and evil of this world
· . the end of Satan’s rule upon earth
This is a picture of the armed forces of the world gathering outside Jerusalem under the leadership of the antichrist. They are there in all their earthly glory and might, or so they think. While there, the midnight hour of judgment strikes. The time for God’s eternal judgment and wrath to fall comes, and the quickest defeat in human history occurs against the greatest army every amassed by man. The antichrist and the armies of his military might are destroyed by the very Word of the Lord’s mouth and by the glory of His appearance. Second Thessalonians graphically describes the scene (2 Th.2:8).
2. Note what the horrifying scene will look like: blood will flow out of the winepress of God’s wrath and the blood will be as deep as two feet in some places.
The distance that the blood will flow is said to be about 184 miles-about the length of Palestine. The picture being painted is that of a thorough judgment. The army of the ungodly in all their glory and might will be immediately and thoroughly destroyed by the winepress of God’s wrath.
=> Isaiah graphically pictures the scene. Isaiah 63: 1-6
=> Joel graphically pictures the scene. Joel 3:9-17.
=> The Revelation graphically pictures the scene.Rev.19:13-21
Second Thessalonians graphically describes the scene. 2 Thessalonians 2: 8-12
