Full Transcript

Welcome to Share the Word. We are on episode 265 in the book of Revelation. This is chapter 14, and Pastor Paul speaks of the three snapshots. What are they? Well, you’re going to have to keep listening. But remember one thing, and make no mistake about it, the hour of judgment has come.

Revelation 14: Three Visions. I teach New Testament Introduction, which is a study designed to understand the background and purpose of each New Testament writing. When we come to Revelation, I ask students to remember this statement as its primary purpose. Revelation was written to strengthen believers to stand firm under pressure by reassuring them of God’s ultimate triumph over evil. It’s impossible to imagine today, from where I sit anyway, the kinds of pressure those living in times and places of severe persecution feel. But as impossible as that is, how much more so to begin to comprehend the incredible pressure people living during the future tribulation era will feel, time Jesus said will be far worse than anything the world has ever seen before.

So, although it’s reassuring for us today to read John’s visions of the future and know how the story ends, try to imagine how people just like us, people who will become believers during that time, will cling to Revelation as their beacon in that very, very dark time. This writing will become their lifeline when things go completely crazy then. All the things we have seen happening during that time will not be for them fascinating topics to speculate about. They will be the very scary reality of their everyday lives. I know some have taught that no one will be saved during the tribulation time who enters into it from our world, that if you’re left behind when the church is taken up, your doom is sealed. I’m not sure where that idea came from.

John is shown that there will be huge numbers of people that will turn to God in repentance and faith during that time, both Jews and Gentiles. How? Well, you know all the Bibles that are collecting dust now? When the events John sees unfolding in that time begin to occur, a lot of people will be dusting them off and suddenly, increasingly desperately, looking for answers, and some will find them. I just read a story yesterday about a well-known woman, she’s in her fifties now, who was riding very high in her twenties. Then some things happened that shook her world, and she remembered her mother had packed her a Bible when years before she had left for college.

She went through her boxes in the attic looking for it, found it, and began to read it. And just through reading the scripture with a hungry heart, she was convicted of its truth and was saved. That will happen all over the place during the tribulation era, I bet. Others will hear the witnesses God raises up. We’ve already learned about those two special witnesses in chapter 11, bold prophetic spokesmen for God who will be untouchable during the second half of the seven years. They will be proclaiming God’s side of the story against the lying narratives of the Antichrist regime, and they will be heard by many, many people, mocked by most, but some will believe them and be saved.

And don’t forget the 144,000 Jewish witnesses who are sealed by God. We learned about them back in chapter 7. They’re coming up again in this chapter, by the way. That army of evangelists will have a large impact. In fact, John describes those who are saved during the tribulation time as a multitude no one can number. Sadly, many of these people will be martyred after the Antichrist consolidates his power, as he furiously turns against anyone and anything associated with God.

But many will survive him and his evil rule. And after the second coming of Christ, it’s these tribulation saints, as they are called, who will go into the millennial kingdom Jesus will inaugurate when he returns. And, as we’ll see in chapter 14, it sounds like God will go to extraordinary lengths to make sure everyone living in that dark time hears the gospel and has a chance to believe it and be saved. As Jesus said in Matthew 24, the gospel will be proclaimed in the whole earth, then the end will come. And make no mistake, the pressure will be enormous to go along with the Antichrist program. The threats, the economic stranglehold his regime will put in place, which we heard about last lesson, the deceptions, the delusions, all will be enormously powerful and effective, and the majority will go along rather than put themselves in the crosshairs by siding with God and his people.

But now in chapter 14, John sees three snapshots. John is shown a series of scenes here as time briefly stands still, still awaiting the final rapid-fire seven bowls of wrath, which will be poured out just before Jesus comes. After being shown last chapter the beast, how he comes to power, the false prophet who deceives the whole earth, and how they wage war on God and his people, now the first scene in chapter 14 is of the 144,000 witnesses, along with Christ, standing victorious in Jerusalem on Mount Zion. This is clearly looking ahead. John is being shown ahead of time the winners at the end of the tribulation ordeal.

Yes, during the worst of that time, Antichrist and his forces will control Jerusalem, the city of God, and it’s from there that he will make his profane and blasphemous boasts about overcoming God, and there where he sets up an image of himself in the Jewish temple and threatens people to accept his program or die. But John is shown, just on the heels of all that, this scene, like a much-needed sneak peek of what’s ahead. It’s Jesus and the 144,000 triumphant witnesses in Jerusalem when all is said and done. This image of the victorious Messiah, who has returned to Jerusalem as King, is a monumental one in Scripture. Many Old Testament prophets picture it. Many Psalms sing about it.

Jesus Himself promised it will happen. So this first vision is an image of that wonderful day when Christ returns to save His people. John sees that the dragon and the Antichrist and the false prophet will not win. Interestingly, the scene of Christ triumphant and surrounded by His witnesses in John’s vision had musical accompaniment. He hears a building chorus of praise going up in heaven with harps playing in the background. The great congregation John has seen before gathered around God’s throne, the 24 elders, the representatives of all His people through the ages, the seraphim and all the angelic hosts, all who are gathered there sing what he calls a new song.

I take that to mean one composed especially for this monumental occasion. How will it go? John doesn’t tell us except to say he heard the chorus singing it together with string accompaniment. Chris Tomlin, a contemporary Christian composer, has tried to imagine that song. He calls his Holy Forever, and it goes, A thousand generations falling down in worship to sing the song of ages to the Lamb. And all who’ve gone before us and all who will believe will sing a song of ages to the Lamb.

Your name is the highest. Your name is the greatest. Your name stands above them all, all thrones, dominions, all powers and positions. Your name stands above them all. And the angels cry, Holy. And all creation cries, Holy.

You’re lifted high, Holy, Holy forever. If you’ve ever heard thousands of Christians singing such a worship song together, you might have some idea of what John saw and heard in this reassuring vision of Jesus and his faithful witnesses standing on Mount Zion, finally victorious over the forces of evil. The second vision he records in this section includes the activities and announcements of three more angels. Then I saw another angel flying in midheaven, he writes, having an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who inhabit the earth, and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people. And he said with a loud voice, Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him, the Maker of heaven and earth.

As I was saying earlier, it seems God will go to extraordinary lengths to be sure everyone on earth at this future time has an opportunity to repent and turn to him in faith. Those who don’t have a Bible, or won’t hear the messages of the two great witnesses in Jerusalem, or won’t be reached by one of the 144,000 evangelists, will be preached to by angels, it sounds like. Imagine someone going outside during this time, could be in one of the remotest parts of the earth, and high in the sky is a powerful-looking supernatural being in midair calling out, The judgments that have been striking the earth are from your Creator. The end of this age is very close. Turn away from the false Christ who is demanding your allegiance and worship. Turn in faith to the true God of heaven, the only true God.

Fear Him and give Him glory. I’ve often thought, those I know who are not believers now, if they are alive when these things are actually happening, I sure hope they will remember then what they have heard of the gospel now and will respond in repentance and faith to one of these many witnesses God will send during those final hours. The delusions will be strong and the threats real, but these will be the last gospel invitations, the final call of God. Then another angel followed that one, shouting, Babylon is fallen! That great city is fallen! Thus she made all the nations of the world drink the wine of her immorality.

Again, John is shown briefly the end of the story, but this time not Christ in triumph, but the empire of the Antichrist in ruins, made the nations drink of the wine of her immorality. Almost certainly refers to more than the sexual immorality that will probably be prevalent in the Antichrist world. Many times in the prophets, when people are called out for turning away from faithfulness to God to worshiping false gods or idols, it’s likened to spiritual immorality. The worship of the Antichrist is the ultimate act of spiritual immorality and faithlessness against God. We’ll see more about this in a coming chapter. But Babylon is the name given to the Antichrist regime here, his one-world economic, religious, political apparatus through which he wields control over the earth.

I wonder if he will actually use that name, Babylon, for his empire, or if this is only God’s pejorative name for it. It’s fitting either way because the name comes from man’s first effort to unite the world through false religion in rebellion against God. We’re told about this back in Genesis chapter 11. That is, the building of the Tower of Babel. And this will be man’s final attempt to do so. We’ll discuss this more in chapter 17, but many students of Revelation identify Babylon here as, in fact, Rome, as if the Antichrist administrative power base is in that ancient city.

Babylon was used as a code name for Rome among early Christians. In that case, Babylon here refers to both the actual capital of his empire, as well as his whole apparatus of power, as when we say, for example, Washington and mean not only the actual city where the U.S. capital sits, but we use that term to stand for all the American government and its power around the world. Then a third angel followed them, shouting, Anyone who worships the beast and his statue who accepts the mark on his forehead or on the hand must drink the wine of God’s anger. It has been poured out full strength into God’s cup of wrath. This is the final warning. God has given ample warnings.

They are all throughout Scripture. For example, Romans chapter 2 says, Don’t think lightly of the riches of God’s kindness, forbearance, and patience. They’re intended to lead you to repentance. But because of stubbornness and unrepentant hearts, you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God. Yeah, make no mistake, wrath is definitely coming. God has sent His own Son to save us.

He’s given us His written Word. His Holy Spirit is drawing us. He has sent witnesses over and over and will up until the final hours. But at this point, His patience has been stretched as far as it can be stretched, and His hand of judgment stayed as long as it can be stayed. If the earth dwellers accept the Antichrist’s mark and worship him, the undiluted wrath of God is coming, and they will not escape it, not in this world nor in the next. Then John heard that angel say something more.

Here is the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. And a voice from heaven answered that angel back, Yes, blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. They may rest from their labors now, for their deeds are following them. This is a picture, I think, of the awful choice believers will have to make then when they are faced with that decree to accept the mark of the beast and worship him. Real believers will not do it. They will persevere in their faith in Jesus and loyalty to the God of heaven, and that will lead to many, many of their deaths.

The voice from heaven, I think this is God’s own voice, reassures that those who are martyred for their faithfulness to Him, the time has come for them to enter into their rest. Their faithfulness has been proven. Their deeds will follow them into glory, where they will be rewarded. So, blessed are those who die in the Lord. The third and final terrible scene John sees in this chapter is of reapers. Then I looked, he writes, and behold, a white cloud, and sitting on the cloud was one like the Son of Man, having a golden crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand.

And another angel came out of the sanctuary, crying with a loud voice to him who sits on the cloud, Put in your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come, because the harvest of the earth is ripe. Then he who sits on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped. In this vision, John sees Jesus again, not as in earlier chapters as a bloodied lamb being lauded for purchasing our redemption with his blood, or as on Mount Zion triumphant with his witnesses. No, this time he sees Jesus as the exalted Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with a sharp sickle in his hand, ready to reap the earth. If you’ve been listening to Share the Word through the Gospels, especially the Gospel of Mark, you probably remember our discussion of his title, Son of Man.

Interestingly, Jesus chose this obscure title from the Old Testament, just used once of him in the whole Old Testament. To refer to himself all during his earthly ministry. I have burned in my mind the dramatic scene in Mark 14 describing Jesus, now in his enemy’s custody and being interrogated by their lawyers in a late-night, hastily convened courtroom setting. When others were getting nowhere, Jesus was challenged under oath by Israel’s high priest himself as to whether he would claim to be the Messiah and the Son of God. Shocking Israel’s religious leaders that night, he told them, Yes, in fact I am, and that one day you will see me, the Son of Man, coming on the clouds of heaven. He was clearly referring then to a vision of the prophet Daniel.

The overlap of Daniel’s visions and John’s in Revelation is extraordinary, by the way. Parallels and shared terminology are all throughout them. In Daniel’s vision, recorded in chapter 7, he too sees the destruction of the beast, but he also sees, well, here it is in his own words: I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven one like a Son of Man was coming, and he went up to the Ancient of Days, and to him was given dominion, glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and men of every tongue might serve him. Daniel saw a supernatural figure in the clouds in one of his visions, in heaven’s glory, and he is given dominion and a kingdom. Clearly supernatural figure, but whose appearance, he says, was like a mere man, the Son of Man.

In both Daniel’s vision and here in Revelation is clearly Jesus, the one to whom God the Father will one day give dominion and a kingdom at the end of the tribulation era, after Satan and the Antichrist are defeated. Now, John, in this final vision of chapter 14, in this scene which looks forward to the end of the tribulation, the Son of Man is coming on the clouds of heaven, and he’s wearing a golden crown because he is ready to rule the earth. But he’s carrying a sharp sickle. Before the kingdom era dawns, he must reap the earth. A sickle was a curved, sharp-bladed tool that was swung to cut down grain.

These pictures at the end of chapter 14 with Jesus and his angels harvesting the earth, and later crushing grapes in a winepress, are pictures of the final judgment on the earth, graphic metaphors for the slaughter of those who have stubbornly rejected God and sided with the Antichrist right up until the very end. But then God’s patience will be finished. His wrath has taken over, and the Antichrist and his followers will be judged and cut down to make way for the coming kingdom of Christ. We’ll see this described in more detail in a future chapter. But what an image: Jesus as a powerful but angry king, along with his angels, coming down to earth, sickles in hand, bent on vengeance, meting out judgment, the reapers. This made me think of a rock and roll song which was very popular when I was in college.

It somehow captured the dark, rebellious mood of many in my generation at that time. The song was called Don’t Fear the Reaper by a band calling themselves Blue Öyster Cult. When asked where that name came from, their manager said that in some occultic poetry, it referred to a clandestine group of aliens who guide human history. Wow, pretty weird. Blue Oyster Cult was one of the first bands to use a lot of occult symbolism in song lyrics and had dark and apparently double meanings to their songs. By the way, music is a powerful medium which affects our hearts and minds.

I’m very aware that Satan uses it. You should be too. Don’t fear the Reaper. It’s a cool-sounding song, I won’t lie, but it’s almost hypnotic, and to my ears contains a very, very wrong message. Don’t fear death. Don’t fear the ones who have power over death.

Don’t fear what comes after death. Parts of the music turn very chaotic, and for some reason, I can imagine this song blasting as background track for the tribulation time. Listen to some of the lyrics. The way it’s performed, there are voices going back and forth, human voices and what seem to me to be spirit voices. It goes, All our times have come, here, but now they’re gone. Seasons don’t fear the Reaper, nor do the wind, the sun, or the rain.

We can be like they are. The voice comes back, Come on, baby, don’t fear the Reaper. Baby, take my hand. Don’t fear the Reaper. We’re gonna be able to fly. Romeo and Juliet are together in eternity.

Romeo and Juliet. Forty thousand men and women every day. Like Romeo and Juliet. Forty thousand men and women every day. Redefine happiness. Another forty thousand coming every day.

We can be like they are. Come on, baby, don’t fear the Reaper. Baby, take my hand. Don’t fear the Reaper. We’ll be able to fly. Came the last night of sadness, and it was clear she couldn’t go on.

The door was open and the wind appeared. The candles blew, then disappeared. The candles flew, and then he appeared, saying, Don’t be afraid. Come on, baby. Use that. And she had no fear, and she ran to him.

Then they started to fly. Looking back, they said goodbye. She had become like they are. Come on, baby. Don’t fear the reaper. Don’t fear the reaper.

Don’t fear the reaper. Weird, no? Makes me wonder what the deceptive message put out by the Antichrist will be as the judgments of God are falling in the tribulation era. Because the true message against the backdrop of all that’s happening in this part of Revelation is exactly the opposite: fear God and give Him glory, because the hour of judgment has come. This is the last call to get on God’s side. Jesus Christ is returning as King, but a sharp sickle is in His hand because His enemies will be destroyed then.

Stay with the story in Revelation. We’ll be coming back for the next chapter soon. This is Paul for Share the Word. Thanks, Paul. More and more people are looking to the Book of Revelation lately for guidance as to what to expect when the end comes. But let me ask you, is it the simplest thing to do to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior?

Then there’s really no need to worry, is there? When you believe in Christ and accept Him as Lord and Savior, it’s really not the end, but a wonderful transition to an everlasting life with God and all of those loved ones who accepted Christ before you. So, the choice is yours, but do me a favor: keep listening.