We've been looking at a section of Rev - ch's 12-14 - that is filled with signs/symbols and explanations of the origins of spiritual warfare.
The first one was a sign in heaven where the dragon hunted the woman that's clothed with the sun. (That was ch 12).
Then we read about the beast from the sea and the beast from the land. (Those were in ch 13).
Now there are three signs in chapter 14: 1) the Lamb and a special group of people, 2) angels giving messages, and 3) people being metaphorically harvested.
1-2 I saw—it took my breath away!—the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, 144,000 standing there with him, his Name and the Name of his Father inscribed on their foreheads. And I heard a voice out of Heaven, the sound like rapids, like the crash of thunder.
2-5 And then I heard music, harp music and the harpists singing a new song before the Throne and the Four Animals and the Elders. Only the 144,000 could learn to sing the song. They were bought from earth, lived without compromise, virgin-fresh before God. Wherever the Lamb went, they followed. They were bought from humankind, firstfruits of the harvest for God and the Lamb. Not a false word in their mouths. A perfect offering.
Voices from Heaven
6-7 I saw another Angel soaring in Middle-Heaven. He had an Eternal Message to preach to all who were still on earth, every nation and tribe, every tongue and people. He preached in a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory! His hour of judgment has come! Worship the Maker of Heaven and earth, salt sea and fresh water!”
8 A second Angel followed, calling out, “Ruined, ruined, Great Babylon ruined! She made all the nations drunk on the wine of her whoring!”
9-11 A third Angel followed, shouting, warning, “If anyone worships the Beast and its image and takes the mark on forehead or hand, that person will drink the wine of God’s wrath, prepared unmixed in his chalice of anger, and suffer torment from fire and brimstone in the presence of Holy Angels, in the presence of the Lamb. Smoke from their torment will rise age after age. No respite for those who worship the Beast and its image, who take the mark of its name.”
12 Meanwhile, the saints stand passionately patient, keeping God’s commands, staying faithful to Jesus.
13 I heard a voice out of Heaven, “Write this: Blessed are those who die in the Master from now on; how blessed to die that way!”
“Yes,” says the Spirit, “and blessed rest from their hard, hard work. None of what they’ve done is wasted; God blesses them for it all in the end.”
Harvest Time
14-16 I looked up, I caught my breath!—a white cloud and one like the Son of Man sitting on it. He wore a gold crown and held a sharp sickle. Another Angel came out of the Temple, shouting to the Cloud-Enthroned, “Swing your sickle and reap. It’s harvest time. Earth’s harvest is ripe for reaping.” The Cloud-Enthroned gave a mighty sweep of his sickle, began harvesting earth in a stroke.
17-18 Then another Angel came out of the Temple in Heaven. He also had a sharp sickle. Yet another Angel, the one in charge of tending the fire, came from the Altar. He thundered to the Angel who held the sharp sickle, “Swing your sharp sickle. Harvest earth’s vineyard. The grapes are bursting with ripeness.”
19-20 The Angel swung his sickle, harvested earth’s vintage, and heaved it into the winepress, the giant winepress of God’s wrath. The winepress was outside the City. As the vintage was trodden, blood poured from the winepress as high as a horse’s bridle, a river of blood for two hundred miles.
Breakdown
1 Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads.
The phrase "then I saw" tells us it's a new vision. In the previous chapter we had to look at the beast's horribleness; now we get to look at the Lamb's goodness.
The Lamb is standing on Mt Zion which is a hill in Jerusalem. Sometimes it's used as a name FOR Jerusalem. John might be showing a contrast by location - worldly empire vs new Jerusalem - as well as juxtaposing the leaders in this vision vs the last one. Last chapter Satan and his other dragons ran the earth, now Jesus and those who have followed Him and endured hardship are ready to step into eternal peace and rulership.
Mt Zion is mentioned back in Psalm 2 where a redeemed remnant of God's people throughout the world go and find refuge, and victory.
Tim Mackey calls the 144,000 people "the Lamb's army." We first saw this group in ch 7. It's made of people who have given their lives to follow him. In comparison to the beast and his followers from the end of last chapter, now we have the Lamb and His followers.
Some scholars also suggest that having the name of God on their forehead signifies ownership too - they belong to Him. It might even be a nod to Joel 2:32 that says on the day of judgement some will belong to Him, and be saved, some won't.
And we see that THIS army gets eternal blessings bc they endured in following Christ.
2 And I heard a sound from heaven like the roar of rushing waters and like a loud peal of thunder. The sound I heard was like that of harpists playing their harps.
Who or what is this sound / is it the voice of God again? I took it to mean a huge amount of holy angels worshipping - that's what popped into my head, and later John says he sees "ANOTHER" angel which makes me think there was already a reference to angels here. cause he describes the sound as that of many harps but also thunder so to me that's throne room angelic stuff.
G K Beale's commentary says this: "The chorus is so loud bc it originates from the 'great multitude which no one could count from every nation, tribe, people and tongue.' These are the same ones whom Christ purchased (see ch 5). The voices are so loud bc they come from such multitudinous hosts - not a mere literal 144,000 but the full number of the redeemed of all ages."
So Beale thinks the thunder sounds is a bunch of people worshipping. And, the following verse seems to corroborate that in a way.
So then it makes me think - maybe it's both. Maybe angels and redeemed people are worshipping God together.
3 And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creaturesand the elders. No one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed/purchased (there's that ownership implication again) from the earth.
They are singing about victory and praise. In fact in the OT a "new song" was something usually created and sung after a victory! So, big theme of victory here.
"No one could learn the song except the 144,000" - this was confusing to me cause John just made it sound like there were countless people and potentially also angels already singing the song. some ppl would say thats evidence that the number isnt literal. others that theres a big group and the 144k are a sub group. idk.
Of course we know we all get to worship God through song, now and in eternity ahead, but there seems to be a unique song before the Lord that maybe a sub group sings? Maybe bc their lived experience contained a unique obedience (which is worship). Like maybe they're martyrs. Or some other scholars think they're a sort of first fruits of some kind - people who died in the Lord from a certain time period or people group or something.
Here's Beale on the topic: "The images of harpists and a heavenly host singing a new song occur elsewhere in the book only in 5:8-10 and 15:2-4, which both emphasize the praise of the saints bc of their victory, ch 5 stressing victory over sin and ch 15 underscoring victory over the beast. The imagery of 14:2-3 therefore portrays redeemed saints praising God for this victory." Very insightful.
4-5 These are those who did not defile themselves with women, for they remained virgins. They follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were purchased from among mankind and offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb. No lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless.
Why does it seem to be saying that this group is all virgins? and apparently I guess a lotta men as well, cause it says they haven't been with women??
What this means is, these people didn't worship idols. In scripture, having an idol is described as spiritual adultery bc you're cheating on the covenant you made with God by worshipping someone or something else, like a false god or the beast or other.
The Life App Study Bible says "Their being 'pure as virgins' is best understood symbolically, meaning that they are free from involvement with the pagan world system... Following Christ the Lamb 'wherever He goes' requires heroic effort to carry out Christ's commission to face opposition and even death if required..."
And, as mentioned in the episode about ch 7, armies - as well as other groups/crowds - were often counted by only counting men and in olden times many of them only contained men.
Next section: "three announcing angels"
6 Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people.
We have a "Then I saw" - a transition to the next vision.
Here's another mention of every nation, tribe, language and people - reminding us that the Beast's influence that has swayed them in the previous chapter doesn't get the final say!
this verse is proof that angels - or at least some of them - can, at least sometimes, fly. But NOT proof that they have wings. In fact a lot of people who study angels and other spiritual beings will tell you angels don't have wings, but cherubim and others do. So get it right Hallmark.
A proclamation angel! He carries the Eternal Gospel - what's that?
the greek word "evangelion" is used here - it's good news. We'll see in the next verse specifically what that good news message is.
7 He said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.”
Why is this the evangelion/good news? It's good news for those who are faithful to Jesus bc their oppressor is finally gonna be stopped.
The Bible says fear God a lot - what's that supposed to look like? It doesn't have to look like anxiety and dread (at least not for the believer); it's helpful to think of it like awe, reverence, respect and worship. It's right and wise to defer to Him cause God is God and we are not.
[READ Beale commentary p300-302]
"The hour of His judgement has come" - there have been a lot of judgements in this book already, is this a different, possibly more complete one? Or is it another mention of the same judgement events we've seen before in the author's often cyclical fashion?
Most scholars I referenced this week seem to think this is Final Judgement stuff. Judgement Day with a capitol J, capitol D.
And Dr Michael Lake, a pastor who tends to overlay the OT feasts on his eschaton estimated timeline, reminds us that there were warning judgements before this, and angels preaching the truth during this. Even as He judges we see God's desire is to save. And he says the judgement might only be about 10 days ish. So that's an interesting perspective.
8 A second angel followed and said, “‘Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great,’ which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries.”
Another announcing angel with this message: Babylon The Great is fallen. This is from Isaiah 21:9 and also Daniel 4:30.
Babylon is metaphorized as a female who forced adulterous things on the nations - this is a nod to one of the main avatars coming up in the book: who I'll refer to as: the Prostitute that is Babylon.
Which John is probably also using as a nick name for Rome - calling the current pagan empire by the name of a previous one. Babylon and later Rome are the two empires that destroyed the two holy temples of the jewish ppl. And we also see in this verse that the wine people are made to drink is Babylon's own decisions (adulteries/idolatries) - once again the punishment fits the crime.
9-10 A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand, they, too, will drink the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb.
There is a warning announced - there are terrible consequences if you take the mark of the Beast!
They'll drink the wine of God's wrath - this is a common OT phrase found all over Isaiah, Obadiah, Job, Jeremiah, Psalms, etc. There's an idea of "they'll get what's coming to them" - justice will be served.
People who join the beast will be "tormented with burning sulfur in the Presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb" - does this mean Hell? or is it a similar place that's more ongoing for this subset of people and beings? This gets debated, but the verbiage here does seem to be from the extra-Biblical (meaning not part of the canon of scripture) book Enoch. And it's also pointed to in the Mt 25 parables.
As grotesque as it is, the picture is one of burning, and possibly implied in this is that it's in the sight of Jesus' followers - and remember that the very real persecution of Christians in Rome at this time included being burned, used as candles for the Romans, and also being fed to lions and other horrible things like that. So this judgement once again would be a matched reversal of the evil perpetrated by the people of the beast.
side note - the Seventh Day Adventist church goes really hard in the paint on these three angel's messages. They basically feel that we're in the last day and there's pretty widespread apostasy even in the so called church, but that the true actual church including them (or, the fundy ones think it's exclusively them) will spread the messages of these 3 angels to the world. And they're really big on the reminder that Jesus is returning. So if you've been around SDA ppl, you've likely heard them talk about Rev 14.
Another fun side note, some historicist interpretations of Rev have pegged Martin Luther as one of these angels/messengers.
I don't tend to think of Revelation exactly like these groups do, but it's an example of how widely differing all the interpretations are out there. So even the slant that I take, though I do try to usually be relatively neutral - please take it with a grain of salt and keep digging in to the word for yourself.
11 And the smoke of their torment will rise for ever and ever. There will be no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name.”
This is one of the verses used in the debate about how long humans in hell will suffer - some ppl think the Bible teaches that's forever, some ppl think their suffering will end and they'll cease to exist, and that this smoke rising forever doesn't mean they're still conscious and it also may not be literal speech about it.
People who claim to have visited the beginning parts of hell during NDE's often describe a repeating of scenes where the person's sins now have control over them and the demons are re-enacting those themes over and over again. Those accounts seem to match this verse's description of there being no rest day or night for those ppl.
But many Christians take the view of annihilationism, which says people in hell will at some point cease to exist. So, NOT eternal conscious torment.
12 This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus.
Here we see a re-statement of one of the main themes of Revelation: imploring Christians to stay faithful and endure.
13 Then I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.”
“Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.”
Next we'll look at the harvest section - there's a good harvest of grain, that's God's people, being gathered up by Jesus and brought to Himself, and there's a harvest to purge evil which is represented by grapes bc wine looks like blood.
14 I looked, and there before me was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one like a son of man with a crown of gold on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand.
The phrase "One like a Son of Man" is from the OT bk of Daniel, and it was Jesus' fave nickname for Himself (or at least one of His top choices). So this not-necessarily-grim Reaper is probably Jesus. jk, He's holding a sickle not a scythe (SIGHTH) I think a sickle is shorter and less Halloween looking.
So probably-Jesus (although some ppl think it's an angel) with a gold crown on His head and a sickle in His hand is here, using a white cloud as His sitting bench, to harvest a crop.
Here are some verses that the imagery of the Son of Man seated on a cloud could be sources from:
Mark 14:62 Jesus tells the high priest "you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven."
Psalm 110:1 "This is the declaration of my Lord: sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool."
Daniel 7:13 "..suddenly one like a son of man was presented on the clouds of heaven."
Being seated in this way and coming on the clouds are two actions that constantly get connected to the messiah.
15 Then another angel came out of the temple and called in a loud voice to him who was sitting on the cloud, “Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.”
Why does John see the angel coming out of the Temple? It might be delivering an announcement / message from the Father - an "it's time" type of declaration.
This is an appointed future time where it will be right for Jesus to harvest the earth (the people of earth). Some Bible teachers say Jesus still doesnt know when this is going to happen - only the Father does. So maybe this angel is going to deliver the message like this when it's time!
Jesus' parables include a harvest at a later date where God separates wheat from the weeds the enemy sewed into the field (Mt 13).
This verse is also to remind us of Joel 3 where it says "...all you surrounding nations, gather yourself... for I will sit to judge all surrounding nations. Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Go in, tread, for the winepress is full. The vats overflow for their evil is great."
This is all really consistent and common Day of the Lord language. Apocalyptic literature often addresses this fact that there's a coming Day where the Lord rightly judges humanity and punishes wickedness.
16 So he who was seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested.
The impending judgement begins!
17-18 Another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. Still another angel, who had charge of the fire, came from the altar and called in a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, “Take your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the earth’s vine, because its grapes are ripe.”
So another angel walks out of the temple and makes a similar announcement that basically boils down to "it's time."
This particular angel (number 3 out of 3 not counting the Son of Man) was in charge of fire, demonstrating that angels have particular assigned responsibilities. There's even some Jewish literature called the testament of Abraham that describes a fire arch angel who tests people's works by fire. Additionally, Psalm 104 seems to imply that angels (or at least some of them) are made from fire (and wind). It's possible that this is that fire archangel showing up to ASSIST Christ in the harvest - Jesus sickles the grain (the people) and the fire angel tests their works.
After the fire angel shows up, the metaphor then changes - from grain... to grapes.
19 The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath.
We know were trampled in big vats back then, that's how they started the wine process. And it looked like blood flowing.
There's a Day of the Lord passage in Isaiah that uses the same imagery: Isaiah 63:1-6 (read).
In Aune's commentary, he notes that the identity of the person who actually trampled is more clearly explained in Rev 19 - it's the rider on the white horse, that's Jesus when He returns along with His heavenly armies in judgement.
20 They were trampled in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed out of the press, rising as high as the horses’ bridles for a distance of 1,600 stadia.
That's truly disturbing and disgusting, and purposeful imagery. Many scholars say it's a rhetorical technique - a hyperbole. The same one that the Jewish historian Josephus used when he described how many Jews died at the hands of the Romans.
To wrap up, I'd like to quote Michael Heiser from The Naked Bible podcast episode on Rev 14. "When the Messiah returns, all of the contexts are apocalyptic and cast in terms of divine warrior judgement stuff. And this is another one... John is telling you who he thinks the wine treader is back in Isaiah 63. And if other people want to say He's God, well John would be ok with that bc Jesus is God anyway... There's an oblique reference to this character - this figure - in the OT. And in John's mind, this is the Lord. The Lord IS the divine warrior. And the divine warrior in the OT - there's only one of those. It's God, or (surprise surprise) the Angel of the Lord, the captain of the Lord's host. The captain of the Lord's hosts would be the The Lord of the Hosts, and so on and so forth.
All these ideas fit together; this is a matrix of ideas. And it's fundamentally understandable if you understand the two YHWH's idea (YHWH invisible and transcendent and YHWH appearing as a man). And the key figure is going to be the angel, who is the captain of the Lord's hosts from Joshua 5... So John is aware of all this. And He inserts Christ (it's Jesus to him). All of this [imagery] is Christ. And so it tells you something about John's Christology. He views Jesus - He views the Son of Man - I mean for goodness' sake in Rev 1 he used Ancient of Days imagery to describe the son of man!
The son of man is God in human form - Christ... Don't miss the Christology here."