Revelation 14:9-11, “9Then a third angel followed them, shouting, "Anyone who worships the beast and his statue or who accepts his mark on the forehead or the hand 10must drink the wine of God’s wrath. It is poured out undiluted into God’s cup of wrath. And they will be tormented with fire and burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and the Lamb. 11The smoke of their torment rises forever and ever, and they will have no relief day or night, for they have worshiped the beast and his statue and have accepted the mark of his name.”
God is perfectly holy and righteous, and judges people, because they reject what they know to be true. That is why everyone sentenced to hell will be without excuse (Romans 1:20;2:1). God provided the means by which humanity will know Him; even during the Tribulation He will continue that same means. Through the two witness, 144,000 Jewish evangelists, and many other believers, and now these angels God will have exhausted the means and gone to every length from which men will know Him and experience Him. Ultimately it boils down to man’s choice and your choice today dear reader. Will you accept Him on His merits, or follow Satan and be one of his minions? Or will you be an a messenger of light repelling the darkness and shining forth the light of Jesus Christ? The decision rests not with me, but with you and God. Perhaps its time that you and God took a little walk in the park instead of walking around the park why not sit down and make peace with your Creator through the blood atonement of Jesus Christ. That is the only answer that will satisfy the craving in your heart to know truth and to have it mean something in your life.
The contents of the message of this angel are Anyone who worships the beast and his statue or who accepts his mark on the forehead or the hand 10must drink the wine of God’s wrath. It is poured out undiluted into God’s cup of wrath. And they will be tormented with fire and burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and the Lamb. 11The smoke of their torment rises forever and ever, and they will have no relief day or night, for they have worshiped the beast and his statue and have accepted the mark of his name.” Specifically anyone who worships the beast and his statue or who accepts his mark on the forehead or the hand shows for the seriousness of loyalty to Antichrist and the manipulation of the world system during this time and our own time. Those who don’t accept Christ and adopt His ways are in the same boat as those during this time accept the mark of the beast and choose to worship Satan, which is a lie at its core, since Satan is not God, and God is the only one deserving of our worship and affection. Yet it is those who are deceived followers of Antichrist who will adopt this mark even now by rejection of the Gospel and harden their hearts but it is this angel who warns that what a terrible fate awaits those who, despite all of God’s judgments and warnings, persist in the revelation and glory of their self perceived knowledge and worship rather than the worship of the Truth contained in God’s Word through the revelation of God’s love through His sacrifice. God graciously offers and calls sinners to repent in the final offer even here extending His hand of love despite impending doom.
Those who drank the wine of the harlot Babylon must drink the wine of God’s wrath. It is poured out undiluted into God’s cup of wrath. To drink the wine of the wrath of God is to experience His wrath (Job 21:20; Psalm 75:8; Isa 51:17, 22; Jer 25:15). Some will have a hard time understanding this so here I will explain. God has restrained His soverign power from creation when mankind sinned and thus rebelled against God. God offered redemption through Noah and the ark of the covenant, by which God made a covenant with Noah to not destroy the earth, and as a promise told Noah as a reminder of that covenant a rainbow. Yet the full fury of God’s wrath so long restrained, will be unleashed. Such wrath is not an impulsive wrath outburst of divine emotion aimed at people whimsically. It is the settled, deliberate, merciless, graceless response of the righteous God against all sinners. John describes this for us poured out undiluted into God’s cup of wrath poured out undiluted into God’s cup of wrath. God’s final wrath will be undiluted vengeance, unmixed with any trace of compassion or mercy for humanity. It will be far removed from any judgment mankind has ever experienced, the flood or even other.
The horrifying fate awaiting those who drink of Babylonian empire is And they will be tormented with fire and burning sulfur. The verb translated tormented speaks of a ceaseless infliction of unbearable pain. The noun from that verb is used in Luke 16:23 to describe the agony of the rich man in Hades. Those whom God will force to drink from the cup of His anger will know no lessing or diminishing of their torment; they will enjoy no moments of rest throughout eternity. Fire and burning sulfur (or brimstone) are often associated in Scripture with divine judgment. God has used them to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen 19:24-25; Luke 17:29). In Psalm 11:6 David spoke of this, “Upon the wicked He will rain snares; fire and brimstone and burning wind will be the portion of their cup.” Hell is a real place, and the final resting place of those who have denied Jesus Christ, and is further described as the “lake of fire which burns with brimstone” (19:20; 20:1; 21:8).
Those who have not accepted Jesus Christ will be tormented in the presence of the holy angels and the Lamb. Mounce points out, “To suffer in the presence of the host of heaven is not to lessen the fierceness of the judgment but to make it more grievous. Christians had bourne the shame of public derision and opposition: soon their antagonists will suffer before a more august gathering.” Unrepentant sinners shall be banished forever from God’s holy presence (21:27; 22:15; Matthew 7:23; 25:41; 2 Thess 1:9_., they will be forever barred from the loving fellowship with Him that believers will forever enjoy. They will not however be far from God’s almighty Sovereignty and omnipotence even in hell. Psalm 139:7-8 Nkjv points this out for us, “7Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
8If I ascend into heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. “
Those who willfully reject the Lord’s sacrifice will be those who suffer eternal punishment because He is the One who is “able to destroy both soul and body in hell (Matthew 10:28).
The angel then describes the fact that The smoke of their torment rises forever and ever, and they will have no relief day or night, for they have worshiped the beast and his statue and have accepted the mark of his name. His description of hell as the place where the smoke of the torment of the wicked goes up forever and ever (20:10) is consistent with the rest of Scripture. Isaiah (Isaiah 66:24, Daniel (Dan 12:2), John the Baptist (Matthew 3:12; Luke 3:17) and the apostle Paul (2 Thess 1:9), also affirm that hell is eternal. But no one taught that sobering truth better than our Master-the Lord Jesus Christ when He described hell as a place of “eternal fire” (Matthew 18:8; 25:41_, of “unquenchable fire’ (Mark 9:43), where “the fire is not quenched’ (Mark 9:48). And in Matthew 25:46, Jesus clearly taught that the torment of the lost in hell will last as long as the blessedness of those of the redeemed in heaven. Though in our humanity we may balk at such a judgment the reality is that eternal punishment is real, and people who have not heard the Gospel are our obligation to reach, because it is clear from the Scriptures that God demands that we reach them, yet calls us only to reach out not to save them, for salvation is only by God and through His sacrifice; yet it is the clear teaching of the Bible that hell is real and eternal punishment is real and God’s justice and holiness demands retribution for the world’s sin.
The three angels proclamations are God’s last call to repentance before the final bowl judgments fall and the Lord Jesus Christ returns. But God graciously warnings will go unheeded by most of the sinful world. This for us ought to highlight the truth of John 3:19, “Men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.” Have you made your decision where you are going today? Don’t be left uncertain, make your commitment today by coming to the Lord Jesus Christ; believing upon His name, and becoming a part of the Body of Christ and avoiding the impending judgment of God.
Pastor Jenkins
