THE LORD GOD TRIUMPHANT: Part two
Text: Revelation 14:9-20
This continuation of chapter fourteen, beginning in verse number nine lets us know that God deals with sin and He does so in a very firm manner. During the tribulation, the Lord God Almighty will bring His powerful anger against those who “worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand”. This begins with a very strong warning from the third angel.
III. THE GRAVITY OF THE WARNING MIDST THE TRIBULATION. (Vv.9-13)
It is an awesome thing to have to endure the judgment of God when it does not have to be so. The Book of Hebrews shows how the judgment of God being predicted should cause men to be warned. The warning given in Hebrews tells us that we should not refuse Him that is speaking. Notice what Hebrews 12:25-29 says about judgment.
See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more [shall not] we [escape], if we turn away from him that [speaketh] from heaven: Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. And this [word], Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God [is] a consuming fire.
These verses certainly indicate to us the severity of God’s judgment. We are told by the writer of Hebrews that God keeps His Word. It was true when he originally “shook the earth”. The writer of Hebrews is warning the reader not to refuse “him that speaketh”. Just as the one “that speaketh” had previously brought judgment, He will also bring judgment again. In this Revelation study, we learn that the Lord is fulfilling that which was previously predicted.
A warning is compassionately given many times in the Scripture for the purpose of turning people from their paths that lead to destruction. Even as we live in the economy of grace, this grace dispensation is being tempered by the fact of God’s impending judgment. Men can not sin willfully continuously against God and not expect to face the judgment. This is one of the reasons that the Lord gives us the warnings in the Revelation prophecy.
A. Not Heeding the Warning Against Beast Worship Meant Death. (Vv. 9-11)
Our Text tells us that “if any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, 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:”
This is the way that the scriptures express the intensity of the punishment. He refers to their punishment as drinking of the wine of God’s wrath. His anger is not diluted; it is full strength. The unbeliever will be cast into the place of everlasting torment and will remain there for ever. There will be no hope of annihilation or release from the awful torment. The same will also be true for every Christ rejecting soul today who goes out into eternity without being saved. Today is the day of salvation.
B. Heeding The Warning Against the Beast Worship Meant Delight. (Vv. 12-13)
There is such a great and notable contrast that is seen in the saints as recorded in our Text. For the unbeliever there is an ongoing never ending torment. For the believer there is everlasting rest. What a difference, yet man is so determined to refuse the hope of God’s eternal blessings in exchange for just a few moments of a self-willed life. It may all be factored into one word, “unbelief”.
1. The saints were promised rest. (Vv. 12-13a)
Here is the patience of the saints: here [are] they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. 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.
This voice from heaven will be such an encouragement to the tribulation saints knowing that they will be able to rest from their labours and that they will be rewarded for their good works as well.
Faith has always produced spiritual rest. Even in the Old Testament, those who were unbelievers could not enjoy God’s rest. Notice that the unbelievers in Moses’ day “entered not in because of unbelief.”(Hebrews 4:6). A lack of faith or belief has always caused a lack of spiritual rest. There is a faith rest that can only come from belief in the Lord resulting in obedience. Hebrews 4:11 says, “Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.”
When the Scriptures say, “Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest” it is describing what should always characterize the believer. The believer should be doing the work of faith. This is our practical Christianity. This is the reason that the Book of James tells us, “Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.” (James 2:17). It is also in the Book of James that Abraham is given to us as a great example of how faith really works.
Notice the way Abraham is described when he did a work of faith. “Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the friend of God.” (Hebrews 2:21-23).
The concept of spiritual rest is not a new concept to the tribulation saints, it is a continuation of the way that God has always worked going all the way back to the time that Able made his offering in the Book of Genesis. His offering was accepted, whereas Cain’s was not because it was not an offering based upon faith and obedience.
2. The saints were promised rewards. (V. 13b).
Our Text tells us that “their works do follow them”. This is a clear indication that the Lord will remember their works of faith and will reward them accordingly. The same is true for us today. We cannot emphasize enough the importance of doing the work of faith. So many, who are saved will fail to receive rewards because they did not exercise that faith. They are too occupied with so many things that distract them from doing that which really counts
There are five crowns that the believer may be able to receive. They are as follows:
Crown of Life For Endurance
James 1:12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.
Crown of Rejoicing For Being A Witness
1 Thessalonians 2:19. For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming? 20. For ye are our glory and joy.
2 Timothy 4:8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord,
the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only,
but unto all them also that love his appearing.
Crown Incorruptible For Those Who Successfully Run The Race
1 Corinthians 9:24. Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize?
So run, that ye may obtain.
25. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things.
Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.
Crown of Glory For Those Who Faithfully Minister The Word
1 Peter 5:1. The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder,
and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:
2. Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly;
not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;
3. Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.
4. And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.
Crown of Righteousness For the Fight of the Faith
2 Timothy 4:7. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:
8. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge,
shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.
IV. THE GATHERING FOR THE WINEPRESS ENDING THE TRIBULATION. (Vv. 14-20).
This is another glimpse of how the judgment of God is going to be pronounced upon the enemy during the tribulation. It is being described as a reaper taking the fruit of the vine and crushing the fruit for the purpose of yielding its fruit. Just as the grape is at the mercy of the winepress, so are all at the mercy of the Lord when He trods the winepress in His fury.
The great counterfeiter, Satan has his own vine which is a corrupt vine. Jesus is the True, while Satan is the false vine. The Lord is going to destroy this corrupt vine with its intoxicating wicked fruit. Even before this happens, the Lord is still sending out warnings, yet so many will refuse the warnings just as people do today. It would be far better for someone to immediately be put to death during the tribulation than to receive the mark and suffer for eternity in hell. But this is exactly what will happen to the unbeliever. If there has ever been a time that we ought to be sensitive to this truth, it is today!
A. There Was The Reaping For The Winepress. (Vv. 14-19)
Reaping signals the end of the harvest. Reaping here signals the end of a wicked harvest that that began when the first seeds of sin were deposited into the human race at the Garden of Eden. The wicked sin vine has been growing through the ages while producing its contaminated fruit. There have not been a people, nation, or a cultural group that has escaped tasting its forbidden fruit. Yes, the Lord is going to do His reaping and will completely gather and destroy the fruit of sin. With this being said, all will be cast into the “winepress of the wrath of God.”
B. There Was The Wrath Of The Winepress. (V. 20).
Verse number 20 is apparently a reference to the Battle of Armageddon (16:16; cf.! 9:17-19) at which time the blood will flow 185 miles up to the horses bridle (14:20). The Battle of Armageddon will be such a battle that will require seven years to clean up. No battle has ever been of such magnitude. This will be the Supper of the Great God, when all of the fowl will gather to eat the carnage. Please be warned, if you have not before it is too late…
