And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Zion, and with him a hundred forty [and] four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads.
The Lamb upon Mount Zion. Chap. 14 Rev 14:1-5
1. a Lamb ] Read the Lamb: of course the same as in chap. 5.
on the mount Sion ] Probably the earthly one the heavenly Jerusalem of chap. 21 has not yet appeared. And in Rev 11:7-8 we had an intimation that the seer’s gaze was now directed to Jerusalem: Babylon, though mentioned in Rev 14:8, is not seen till chap. 17.
an hundred forty and four thousand ] Cf. Rev 7:4.
his Father’s name ] Read, His Name and His Father’s Name. Notice that it is assumed as understood, that the Lamb is the Son of God. See notes on Rev 3:12, Rev 7:3.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And I looked – My attention was drawn to a new vision. The eye was turned away from the beast and his image to the heavenly world – the Mount Zion above.
And, lo, a Lamb – See the notes on Rev 5:6.
Stood on the mount Zion – That is, in heaven. See the notes on Heb 12:22. Zion, literally the southern hill in the city of Jerusalem, was a name also given to the whole city; and, as that was the seat of the divine worship on earth, it became an emblem of heaven – the dwelling-place of God. The scene of the vision here is laid in heaven, for it is a vision of the ultimate triumph of the redeemed, designed to sustain the church in view of the trials that had already come upon it, and of those which were yet to come.
And with him an hundred forty and four thousand – These are evidently the same persons that were seen in the vision recorded in Rev 7:3-8, and the representation is made for the same purpose – to sustain the church in trial, with the certainty of its future glory. See the notes on Rev 7:4.
Having his Fathers name written in their foreheads – Showing that they were his. See the notes on Rev 7:3; Rev 13:16. In Rev 7:3, it is merely said that they were sealed in their foreheads; the passage here shows how they were sealed. They had the name of God so stamped or marked on their foreheads as to show that they belonged to him. Compare the notes on Rev 7:3-8.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Rev 14:1-13
A Lamb and with Him an hundred forty and four thousand.
The 144,000
I. Who are these 144,000? They are the identical 144,000 sealed ones spoken of in chapter 7., with only this difference, that there we see them in their earthly relations and peculiar consecration; and here we see them with their earthly career finished, and in the enjoyment of the heavenly award for their faithfulness.
II. What are the chief marks or characteristics of these 144,000?
1. The first and foremost is that of a true and conspicuous confession. They have the name of the Lamb and the name of His Father written on their foreheads. This is their public mark as against the mark of the worshippers of the Beast. There is nothing more honourable in Gods sight than truth and faithfulness of confession.
2. Another particular is their unworldliness. Whilst most people in their day dwell upon the earth, sit down upon it as their rest and choice, derive their chief comfort from it, these are redeemed from the earth–withdrawn from it, bought away by the heavenly promises and the Divine grace to live above it, independent of it. They are quite severed from the world in heart and life.
3. A third point is their pureness. They are virgins, in that they have lived chaste lives, both as to their faithfulness to God in their religion, and as to their pureness from all bodily lewdness.
4. A further quality is their truthfulness. In their mouth was not found what is false. These people were truthful in speech, had also a higher truthfulness. They have the true faith; they hold to it with a true heart; they exemplify it by a true manner of life. They are the children of truth in the midst of a world of untruth.
III. What, then, is their reward?
1. Taking the last particular first, they stand approved, justified, and accepted before God. They are blameless. To stand before God approved and blameless from the midst of a condemned world–a world given over to the powers of perdition by reason of its unbelief and sins, is an achievement of grace and faithfulness in which there may well be mighty exultation.
2. In the next place, they have a song which is peculiarly and exclusively their own. Though not connected with the throne, as the Living Ones, nor crowned and seated as the Elders, they have a ground and subject of joy and praise which neither the Living Ones nor the Elders have; nor is any one able to enter into that song except the 144,000. None others ever fulfil just such a mission, as none others are ever sealed with the seal of the living God in the same way in which they were sealed. They have a distinction and glory, a joy and blessedness, after all, in which none but themselves can ever share.
3. They stand with the Lamb on Mount Zion. To be with the Lamb, as over against being with the Beast, is a perfection of blessing which no language can describe. It is redemption. It is victory. It is eternal security and glory. To be with the Lamb on Mount Zion is a more special position and relation. Glorious things are spoken of Jerusalem which have never yet been fulfilled. On His holy hill of Zion God hath said that He will set up His King, even His Son, who shall rule all the nations (Psa 2:1-12.). The Lamb is yet to take possession of the city where He was crucified, there to fulfil what was written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin over His head when He died. And when that once comes to pass, these 144,000 are with Him, His near and particular associates in that particular relation and administration.
4. They are a firstfruit to God and to the Lamb, not the firstfruit of all the saved, for the Living Ones and the Elders are in heavenly place and glory above and before them; but a firstfruit of another and particular harvest; the firstfruit from the Jewish field, in that new beginning with the Israelitish people for their fathers sakes, which is to follow the ending of the present times of the Gentiles. They are brought to the confession of Christ, and sealed in their foreheads with the name of both the Father and the Son, during the time that the rest of their blood-kin are covenanting with and honouring the Antichrist as Messiah.
IV. What, now, of the angel-messages?
1. The first message. That an angel is the preacher here is proof positive that the present dispensation is then past and changed. It is no longer the meek and entreating voice, beseeching men to be reconciled to God, but a great thunder from the sky, demanding of the nations to fear the God, as over against the false god whom they were adoring–to give glory to Him, instead of the infamous Beast whom they were glorifying–to worship the Maker of all things, as against the worship of him who can do no more than play his hellish tricks with the things that are made; and all this on the instant, for the reason that the hour of judgment is come.
2. The second message. With the hour of judgment comes the work of judgment. A colossal system of harlotry and corruption holds dominion over the nations. God has allowed it for the punishment of those who would not have Christ for their Lord, but now He will not allow it longer. Therefore another angel comes with the proclamation: Fallen, fallen, the great Babylon, etc. The announcement is by anticipation as on the very eve of accomplishment, and as surely now to be fulfilled. The particulars are given in chapter 17. and 18. There also the explanation of the object of this announcement is given. It is mercy still struggling in the toils of judgment, if that by any means some may yet be snatched from the opening jaws of hell; for there the further word is, Come out of her, My people, etc.
3. The third message. And for the still more potent enforcement of this call a third angel appears, preaching and crying with a great voice, that whosoever is found worshipping the Beast and his image, or has the Beasts mark on his forehead or on his hand, even he shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God which is mingled without dilution in the cup of His anger, and shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the angels and in the presence of the Lamb, and the smoke of their torment ascends to the ages of ages, and they have no rest day and night! It is an awful commination; but these are times of awful guilt, infatuation, and wickedness. And when men are in such dangers, marching direct into the mouth of such a terrible perdition, it is a great mercy in God to make proclamation of it with all the force of an angels eloquence. The same is also for the wronged and suffering ones who feel the power of these terrible oppressors. It tells them how their awful griefs shall be avenged on their hellish persecutors.
4. The fourth message. There is no suffering for any class of Gods people in any age like the sufferings of those who remain faithful to God during the reign of the Antichrist. Here, at this particular time and juncture, is the patience or endurance of them that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. To come out of Babylon, and to stand aloof from its horrible harlotries, is a costly thing. Therefore there is another proclamation from heaven for their special strengthening and consolation. Whether this word is also from an angel we are not told; but it is a message from glory and from God. And it is a sweet and blessed message. It is a message which John is specially commanded to write, that it may be in the minds and hearts of Gods people of every age, and take away all fear from those who in this evil time are called to lay down their lives because they will not worship Antichrist. Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth. And when violence, cruelty, and slaughter are the consequence of a life of truth and purity, the sooner it is over the greater the beatitude. (J. A. Seiss, D. D.)
The communion of saints
I. The communion of saints is the restoration of fellowship between God and man. There are in the will and work of God three perfect and eternal unities: the unity of three Persons in one nature; the unity of two natures in one Person; and the unity of the Incarnate Son with His elect-the Head with the members of His Body mystical. This is the foundation of the communion of God and man. A Lamb stood, etc.
II. The communion of saints is the restoration of the fellowship of men with each other. Our regeneration unites us to the Divine Person in whom God and man are one; and by union with Him we are reunited to all whom He has likewise united to Himself. As the vine has one nature in root and stem, branch and spray, fibre and fruit, so the mystical and true Vine in earth and heaven has one substance and one life, which is the basis of all fellowship in love and will, in sympathy and action, in mutual intercessions of prayer, and in mutual ministries of power. Lessons:
1. Let us learn, first, that we can never be lonely or forsaken in this life. No trial can isolate us, no sorrow can cut us off from the communion of saints. There is but one thing in which the sympathy of Christ has no share, and that is, the guilt of wilful sin.
2. And let us learn further, by the reality of this heavenly fellowship, to live less in this divided world.
3. Lastly, let us learn from this communion of saints to live in hope. They who are now at rest were once like ourselves–fallen, weak, faulty, sinful, etc. But now they have overcome. Only one thing there is in which we are unlike them: they were common in all things except the uncommon measure of their inward sanctity. In all besides we are as they; only it is now our turn to strive for the crown of life. (Archdeacon Manning.)
Having His Fathers name written in their foreheads.
The sublimest human distinction
I. It is the most beautiful. The face is the beauty of man; there the soul reveals itself, sometimes in sunshine, and sometimes in clouds. The beauty of the face is not in features, but in expression, and the more it expresses of purity, intelligence, generosity, tenderness, the more beautiful. How beautiful, then, to have Gods name radiating in it! Gods name is the beauty of the universe.
II. It is most conspicuous. In their foreheads. It is seen wherever you go, fronting every object you look at. Godliness cannot conceal itself. Divine goodness is evermore self-revealing.
III. It is most honourable. A man sometimes feels proud when he is told he is like some great statesman, ruler, thinker, reformer. How transcendently honourable is it to wear in our face the very image of God! Let us all seek this distinction. With the Fathers name on our foreheads we shall throw the pageantry of the Shahs, the Czars, and all the kings of the earth into contempt. (Homilist.)
The name on the forehead
I. A claim of appropriation.
II. A sign of office.
III. A mark of dignity.
IV. A pledge of security.
V. a memento of obligation.
1. To remember that ye are not your own.
2. To profess openly.
3. Faithfully to discharge functions.
4. To the exercise of unvarying trust.
5. To be holy. (Preachers Portfolio.)
Harpers harping with their harps.—
Musical art in its relation to Divine worship
We claim for music the first place among the fine arts.
1. Because it is the most ideal, for the ideal is the highest.
2. Because it most thoroughly expresses the various emotions of the human mind, and therefore has the widest reach over human life.
3. Because, like love, it is eternal.
I. What kind of music is best? Universal agreement on the subject is not to be expected, because the subject is so mixed up with questions of expediency, of taste, of knowledge. People have a right to expect that the canticles and hymns shall be sung to music in which they can join, but devout people who can sing must be taught that, while spiritually alert, they must be vocally silent in many parts of Divine worship.
II. How can we best secure the best music for Divine worship? As to the voices, assuming that those of the men are sweet in quality, the success of a male choir may be said to depend on three things mainly: First, that the voices of the boys shall be properly trained, so that they produce a clear and flute-like tone. Secondly, that no music should be attempted which is beyond the ability of the choir to execute. Thirdly, that nothing be put on the programme until it is thoroughly rehearsed and well known. Then let everything be done decently and in order. Then will our Church music be a real help to devotion. Hearts will be uplifted, voices upraised. Then will our sacred songs be as the echo of the angelic songs above, and God will be glorified. (J. W. Shackelford, D. D.)
Music in heaven
There is music in heaven, because in music there is no self-will. Music goes on certain laws and rules. Man did not make these laws of music; he has only found them out; and if he be self-willed and break them, there is an end of his music instantly; all he brings out is discord and ugly sounds. The greatest musician in the world is as much bound by those laws as the learner in the school, and the greatest musician is the one who, instead of fancying that, because he is clever, he may throw aside the laws of music, knows the laws of music best, and observes them most reverently. And therefore it was that the old Greeks, the wisest of all the heathens, made a point of teaching their children music; because they said it taught them not to be self-willed and fanciful, but to see the beauty of order, the usefulness of rule, the divineness of laws. And therefore music is fit for heaven; therefore music is a pattern and type of heaven, and of the everlasting life of God, which perfect spirits live in heaven; a life of melody and order in themselves; a life of harmony with each other and with God. (G. Kingsley.)
They sung as it were a new song.–
The new song in the soul
(with Eph 5:19):–The text from St. Paul is the necessary introduction to the one from St. John. They both suggest for us the necessary connection of inner and outer harmony of being. What makes martial music noisy, blatant, offensive? It is when a spirit of mere savage quarrelsomeness is in connection with it. And what makes it majestic and able to marshal and lead hosts? It is the force of national duties and earnestness, giving it commanding power. Our texts give the highest Christian form of this truth, the connection of inner and outer harmony. It declares that no man can learn the new song who has not been redeemed in nature; none can sing it who has not made, first, melody in the heart unto the Lord. First, consider this in connection with the statement that holiness, goodness, is a concord. Every virtue is a harmony. It is the result of combining different and separate tendencies. It is complex. It is, as it were, a chord of the inner music, formed by striking different notes of character together, and combining them in one. And that is what makes virtue so hard of acquisition and a virtuous Christian life such a struggle. The true graces are harmonies of different notes; are chords of character; not merely a single note of character, struck with a single finger, easily, and at once; but each, a combination of various notes of character, revealed only by using all the hand, and both hands of life; including different parts and requiring earnest, anxious toil, before it is harmoniously and truly struck–struck with pleasure to the great Hearer, to whose ear your character makes melody in your heart, the Lord. Look at some of the several virtues, and see if it be not so; that each one is a chord, a combination, a harmony. Take love, or charity, the most winning and prominent of virtues. It is not simple. In its true height it is a combination. It is composed of the union of self-sacrifice and benevolence to others. Passion is never true love, for it is selfish. Or take another human virtue, true human courage, and see its component parts. Who is a brave man, but he who, keenly alive to pain, tingling through and through with sensitiveness of danger and love of life, is yet also full of the sense of duty and the glow of patriotism, and out of those two very different parts constructs the delicate, perfect harmony of his courage? Or again, select a third one out of the catalogue of noble human characteristics; and see how, in its true form, it is harmony, a combination of differing elements. Take freedom, liberality, or liberty of spirit. There is a true and a false freedom. The false freedom is simply license. It has only one thought–to do its own will, to get its own desire, to be unbound by others will. It has no harmony. It has but a single note, a single tone, and it is easily gained. There is no struggle, no argument to reconcile and combine any differences in a melody. But there is a truer human liberty than this; that which Paul describes when he says, as free, but as servants; one which strives, while doing its own will, to be sure that it is also doing the will of God and truth; one which labours to combine obedience with freedom, to be obediently free and to be freely obedient; to make it the freest action of the human will to do Gods will, and to obey the commandments of His love and truth. That is a hardly gained, but a very rich harmony. Take still one more example of the fact that every virtue, in its true, essential form, is a concord, a combination of tones. You will find it in the trait of justice. To be just is not a very simple operation. It requires, first, wisdom, judgment, intelligent power of discerning and discriminating. It requires, secondly, courage, freedom to announce the decision of wisdom, without fear or prejudice. It requires, thirdly, temperateness, power of self-restraint, that there be no excess, or passion, or over-statement of ones decisions in the vehemence of his convictions. Every act of justice must include these three. But let us think on a little further. The Bible calls human virtues and graces fruits of the Spirit. Their harmony is produced by the Spirit of God. Have you ever stood and wondered at the wild, sweet music of an AEolian harp–held by no human hands, resonant under no human fingers, but swayed by the breathing winds of nature, bringing forth its strange combined melodies? Such an instrument is the human soul. Strung and held by no human hands, with the spiritual breath of God the Spirit passing over its strings, seeking to awaken them to speak in those perfect harmonies which we call virtues, but which the Bible calls fruits, or results of the Spirit. Oh, let us not quench the Spirit. It is about us, fraught and laden with all the airs and strains of God; able and waiting to call them out of our hearts, and the materials of our character and nature. By it we may be able to make melody in our hearts to the Lord. By it we may strive to do here what the redeemed shall de by it at last before the throne, in that land of the Spirit. We may learn from the Spirit that perfect new song which can only be sung by a melodious heart and nature. (Fred. Brooks.)
The music of heaven
1. The heavenly song is described as a new song. And it is so in that the theme of it will be new. They sing, says St. John, the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb. The song of Moses celebrated redemption out of Egypt. Here, on earth, the Church cannot fully comprehend the whole development of the plan of Divine mercy. The process is still going on, and not until all the saved are brought to glory will it be completed; and hence those songs which most appropriately express our holiest thoughts and aspirations here will not be suited to our condition hereafter. The new song is adapted to our enlarged powers and to our altered circumstances.
2. Continued freshness will characterise the song of heaven. The sweetest strains lose more or less of their freshness by constant repetition.
3. Further, the music of heaven shall give rise to new emotions. In the life of the celebrated composer Handel it is stated that upon being asked how he felt when composing the Hallelujah Chorus, he replied, I did think I did see all heaven before me, and the great God Himself. And it is said that a friend called upon him when he was in the act of setting to music the pathetic words, He was despised and rejected of men, and found him absolutely sobbing. What will be the emotions of joy and gratitude which will be experienced when all the redeemed, gathered out of every nation, and kindred and tongue shall unite as with one heart and one voice, and sing the song of Moses and of the Lamb?
4. And then unlike the songs of earth, the new song shall never be interrupted. Sin, sorrow, death, are all unknown there! The song of heaven shall be an eternal song, and the strains of the music of the heavenly harpers shall flow on for evermore! Have you the prospect of joining the heavenly throng? (S. D. Hillman.)
A song of freedom
A new song, it is doubtless the song of a new and higher victory. A song is, above all, an expression of the heart, something spontaneous, the irrepressible upspringing of an inward emotion. A bird sings because it cannot help singing, and because its little heart is thrilling with an overflowing joy; and so they who sing the new song have had, doubtless, some true experience of a great good and joy which causes them to sing. I think that it is the experience of every thoughtful man that all the real misery springs, in some way, from spiritual wrong. If he have lost friends, which is one of our great natural griefs, yet if sin had not thrust itself into this sorrow, if the soul of the friend as well as ones own had been perfectly true to God, and to right, one would find in the bereavement a cause to rejoice, for to the holy dead God reveals the fulness of His love. It is the conscious want of the love of God, manifesting itself in acts of selfishness, ingratitude, and treason to truth and duty–it is always this that has made the human spirit wail. Selfishness is a constant pain, and love a constant joy. I do not deny the many natural sorrows of life, and that they are sometimes painful beyond human power to endure, but we would be strong from a Divine strength to bear troubles and sufferings which fall to our lot in this life, and they would be only for our discipline and perfection, were we without transgression. These would be outside sufferings. But it is the feeling that we have acted unrighteously, that we have stained our souls honour, that we have been unthankful to the heavenly Father. It is this that consumes the spirit within us. If we arc raised for one instant by the quick motion of faith, by the absorbing exercise of prayer, by the unselfish act of pure obedience, into the light and liberty of Gods presence, we gain inward freedom and peace, we experience an absolute deliverance from the tyranny of evil. We may perceive, then, why the power of sin in our human nature is called in the Scriptures a bondage. It is pure absolutism. Let the bondsman strive once to free himself, to shake himself loose from his bonds, to change his own nature, and he will see what a grasp evil has. To be freed from the power of evil would soothe all pangs, would wipe away all tears, sorrow, care, and would restore to the life-giving presence and joy of God. Can we not then begin, in some feeble manner I grant, to perceive or imagine what may be the significance of the new song? It is in truth a song of freedom, and we need not wonder that it is represented to be like the sound of many waters, the outpouring of innumerable hearts on the free shore of eternity, for God has made the soul to be free and to have no law over it but the law of love. There are, indeed, but few such chords that vibrate in human hearts. Sorrow is one of these. Coleridge said that at the news of Nelsons death no man felt himself a stranger to another; and of these universal chords, that of freedom is also one. Such a spontaneous cry rises from an enslaved nation, whose chains are broken by some God-inspired man. Never shall I forget the mighty shout I heard that went up from the whole people of Florence, gathered together in the great market-square of the beautiful city on the Arno, at the news of a decisive victory gained over the powerful enemy of Italian independence–Austria. A new, unlooked-for joy poured into the hearts of the suffering and long-oppressed Italian people that they were at length free! It made them one. It overflowed their hearts with sudden strength, and men fell upon each others necks and kissed each other, and their joy found expression in shouts and songs. So it will be a new joy in heaven to be free–to be free from the shameful oppression of evil. The believer may, in some feeble and imperfect measure, in his best times, when Christ his Light is near, be able to conceive of this state of entire victory over, or deliverance from, sin, because he has in the present life yearnings after it, and prophecies of it; but to the unrenewed mind this truth is not quite clear. It is, on the contrary, a thought which gives that mind, when it thinks at all, much uneasiness and confusion. For it has had fleeting tastes of sweetness in this earthly life, and in those pleasures into which God does not come, poor though they be, and it fears to lose those alloyed and swift-passing experiences of happiness in being holy. It would not release entirely its hold upon these, for fear of losing its happiness altogether. But we must let go one to win the other. We must push off from the shore of this world to gain the free shore of eternity; and so complete is the victory of heaven, that not even such an electric thought of evil as has been described, shall pass over the soul. Holiness is happiness. Goodness is joy. Love is freedom. There are no remains of the conflict of temptation. The spell of sin is broken; and as freedom is one of those things that never grows old, so the song of heaven shall be a new song.
II. But another and higher sense remains, in which it would seem that the song of heaven is called a new song, arising from the fact that this heavenly freedom which is sung, does not end in ourselves, in our freedom or holiness or joy, but ends in Christ, and in the Divine will in which dwells this pure and mighty power of the souls deliverance from evil. (J. M. Hoppin.)
The song of the redeemed
I. Their character. They are redeemed from the earth. Redemption, in their ease, was not merely virtual, but actual; not in price only, but also in power. It was a redemption carried into their personal experience. Such must ours be, or the price of our redemption has been paid for us in vain. There is pardon, finely represented as implying submission to God, and acceptance and acknowledgment by him. The Fathers name is written in their foreheads. There is confession of God before men. They practised no unholy concealment; their religion was public, and declared at all hazards. They were undefiled. They were unspotted from the world, even its more prevalent errors-errors recommended by example, justified by sophistry, alluring by interest, and enforced by persecution. There is their obedience. This is impressively described by their following the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. There is their completeness. Sanctified throughout, they were preserved blameless in spirit, soul, and body. And there is their redemption from earth. They were redeemed from its corporate society, as the world. That remained; they were chosen out of it. They were redeemed from its cowardly and selfish principles, by which truth is sacrificed to ease and gain; whereas these sacrificed ease and gain for truth. From its example; for, while the multitude were wandering after the beast, these were following the Lamb. From Rs pollutions; for they had been washed from their sins by the blood of Him who loved them. From earth itself; for they are now before the throne.
II. Their place. Before the throne.
1. It is the place of glorious vision.
2. It is the place of eternal security. Day is there, never succeeded by night. There is quiet, unbroken by alarm: the gates of the city are not shut by day or night. There is life, never to be quenched in death. For ever does the river flow from under the throne, and the tree of life feels no winter.
III. The represented action.
1. They sang. Powerful emotions of joy seek for outward expression. This is one of the laws of our very nature. The expression will be suitable to the emotion. Grief pours forth its wailings; joy is heard in the modulations of verse, and the sweet swells and cadences of music.
2. They sang a new song. Every deliverance experienced by the saints of God calls for a new song: How much more, therefore, this, the final deliverance from earth! Their song is new, as demanded by new blessings. John saw before the throne a Lamb, as it had been newly slain. The phrase intimates that blessings for ever new will flow from the virtue of His atonement, and the manifestation of the Divine perfections by Him. Nor shall the song be new as to individuals only, but as to the whole glorified Church.
3. They sang it before the throne. The glorious fruit of the travail of His soul.
IV. The peculiarity of their employment. No man could learn that song. Not so much to the sound, the music, of the song, as to its subject, does this language refer; and such subjects only can be turned into song, as dwell in the very spirits of the redeemed.
1. There are remembered subjects. The redeemed from earth recollect the hour when light broke In on their darkness.
2. There are present subjects. (R. Watson.)
The unlearned song of the redeemed
What can be the meaning of this singular announcement of a song not to be taught even to the other inhabitants of heaven? We need but refer to a familiar principle of the minds operations, whose religious significance is often not perceived; by which toil, pain, and trial, however grievous in the experience, turn to comfort and delight in the retrospect. As, by the influence of chemical attraction, the most glossy white is brought out on textures originally of the blackest dye, or as the mere constant falling of the bleaching sunlight makes a dull surface glisten like snow, so do the souls melancholy passages change as they are acted on by reflection, and the darkest threads of its experience brighten in the steady light of memory. There are few enjoyments more exquisite than the father feels in telling his son of the hardships of his early life. How he dilates on the efforts and sacrifices with which he began his career! But would he spare one hard days labour, though it wore and bent his frame? one hours thirst, with which his lips were parched? Not one: not one act of self-denial, not one patient stretch of endurance; for all these, by this transforming principle, have become most pleasant to his mind. On the same principle, we can understand, without referring to unworthy motives, the soldiers interest in his oft-repeated narratives. Oh, the dark and deadly scene! the ground wet with blood, and the smoke of carnage mounting heavy and slow over the dead and the dying I It is not necessarily that his soul breathes the spirit of war; but it is that these, like other trials, turn to joys, as viewed from the height of his present thought, stretching picturesquely through the long valley of the past. The same principle operates in the hardships of peaceful life. The sailor has a like gladness from the dangers with which he has been environed on the stormy deep. He interprets the almost intolerable accidents that overtook him into good and gracious providence, and sings of his calamity, privation, and fear. So all the sweetest songs, and all the grandest and most touching poetry, that have ever been on earth breathed into sound or written in characters, have sprung out of such work and strife, sorrow and peril. And why should not a new song, unknown even to the elder seraphs, be so composed and framed in heaven, out of all lifes trouble and disaster; while the mercy of God, the atoning influence of Christ, all heavenly help and guidance that they have received in their struggles, shall add depth and melody to those voices of the redeemed? Such is the mystery and bounty of the Divine. Paradoxical as it may seem, God means not only to make us good, but to make us also happy, by sickness, disaster, and disappointment. For the truly happy man is not made such by a pleasant and sunny course only of indulged inclinations and gratified hopes. Hard tasks, deferred hopes, though they make the heart sick, the beating of adverse or the delay of baffling winds, must enter into his composition here below, as they will finally enter into his song on high. There is more than pleasant fancy or cheering prediction in that language about beauty being given for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; for out of dust and ashes alone beauty can grow; supreme gladness glistens nowhere but upon the face where grief hath been sitting; and the highest praise to God is sung when He hath delivered us from the pit of woe and despair. The opening of one of the most strangely beautiful flowers, from the roughest of prickly and unsightly stems, is an emblem of the richest blooming of moral beauty and pleasure from thorns and shapes of ugliness in the growth of the immortal mind. But there is a strict condition. They who would blend their voices in that happy choir, to which the hosts of heaven pause to listen, must be faithful in performing this toil, in overcoming this temptation, in enduring this trial. An ancient poet says, it is a delight to stand or walk upon the shore, and to see a ship tossed with tempest upon the sea; or to be in a fortified tower, and see hosts mingled upon a plain. But what is such pleasure compared with that felt by those who look down from the firm ground of heaven upon their own tossings in the voyage they have with a sacred and religious faithfulness accomplished, and fix their retrospective eye on the fight they, with a holy obstinacy, waged with their own passions and besetting sins? (C. A. Bartol.)
The new song
We shall begin our meditation on this vision by considering the occupation of those referred to. They sing. Praise is often spoken of as the chief occupation of the saints in heaven. Nor need we wonder that such is the case. They have passed to the land of pure delight. They mingle in congenial society. Above all, they behold Him, whom they have long adored afar off, and with Him they maintain unbroken communion. His presence and voice fill their hearts with joy, deep and intense. Nor does the inspiration of their song come only from the present; it comes also from the past. Then they fully learn what has been done to them and for them during their earthly journey. This praise, too, is unceasing. Other engagements and interests concern men in this life. They have wants that must be supplied; they have burdens that must be borne; they have battles that must be fought. And these urge them to prayer as often as to praise. Even up to the Jordans bank they must stretch forth their hands and raise their voice in supplication. But, in that better land, they enjoy satisfaction and rest. Full provision has been made, and they have only to celebrate the goodness that has done it all. That which they sing is called a new song. It is heavenly in origin and character. It is no feeble strain of earth, weak in thought and poor in expression. It far transcends in matter and in form the psalms and hymns and spiritual songs of the Church below. These were suited to the partial knowledge of this lower sphere, but they are inadequate to the fuller view and the deeper experience to which the redeemed have risen. Of that anthem we catch some echoes in the revelation which John has given us. It is a song of salvation, it is a shout of triumph. It is called the song of Moses and of the Lamb, and this title is suggestive of its tenor. From a danger greater than that to which the Israelites were exposed have those who are with the Lamb been delivered. Not from physical evil or an earthly enemy, but from spiritual loss and death, and from the power of the wicked one, have they been rescued. Not only, therefore, do they sing the song of Moses; they sing also the song of the Lamb. Being a new song, it must be learned by those who would sing it. But the text warns us that this is possible only for those who have undergone a certain training. Without discipline we cannot take our place in the choir above, engage in the occupations, or enjoy the beauties and delights of the Paradise above. This, indeed, we might understand apart from revelation. All experience combines to suggest it. In the material world everything has its place and work, and is specially fitted for filling the one and performing the other. We recognise in that sphere the reign of law. Every branch of industry has its own rules and its own methods. To learn these an apprenticeship must be undergone. And this is as applicable to the moral region as it is to the social and the intellectual. Place a man of dissolute habits, of vicious temper, of impure thought, of blasphemous speech, in the company of men and women who are spiritual in tone, pure in thought, reverent in speech, and what will his experience be? Not certainly one of satisfaction and enjoyment. He will be wretched. He will long to escape that he may go to his own company and to his own place. Now, this truth, which is received and acted on in all spheres of human activity, has force beyond the limits of earth. It touches the constitution of things: it rests on our nature, and must, therefore, determine our experience not only here but hereafter. To occupy our minds with the foolish, if not the wicked, things of earth, is to render ourselves incapable of dealing with the concerns of heaven; that before we can even learn the song of the redeemed we must have been prepared, for not every one can learn the new song that is being sung before the throne, before the four beasts, and before the elders. But we are not only warned that preparation is required; we are also taught in what it is to consist. Its general character may, indeed, be gathered from what has just been said. We have been reminded that to engage heartily in any occupation we must make ourselves acquainted with its rules and methods, that to enjoy any society we must have in some measure risen to the attainment of its members. In order, then, to discover what is needful, by way of training, before we can join this company, enjoy their fellowship, and sing their song, we have only to inquire by what features they are marked. They are spiritual in character, they are with the Lamb on Mount Zion, they are pure and holy. From this it follows that the education which those who would join them must undergo is spiritual. It is not intellectual only. Mere acquaintance with what concerns persons is not of necessity sympathy with them. Only when knowledge touches heart and life can there be fellowship, for only then are companions animated by the same spirit and interested in the same subjects and pursuits. Nor, on the other hand, can the training be merely mechanical. By no outward washing or cleansing can we free the soul from its foul blot; can we make ourselves pure, worthy to stand before the great white throne and Him who sits thereon. The one hundred and forty and four thousand who do learn the song are said to have been redeemed from the earth. They have been redeemed. This indicates that by nature they are not fit for the occupation referred to. The faculty qualifying them for it has been lost, and has to be restored. The dormant faculties must be roused and developed, the powers that have been misapplied must be converted. The term redemption is employed in Scripture in two different senses, or rather to suggest two aspects of the change which it indicates. At one time it signifies release from the bondage of the Evil One without; at another, release from the bondage of the evil nature within. Here it is the inner rather than the outer reference that is in view. It is less escape from slavery and danger than purity and elevation of character that is thought of. Not at once are we made fit for heaven in the fullest sense: not at once is the hold which sin has gained on us relaxed. That comes by struggle, by warring against the powers and principalities arrayed against us, and to which we have submitted. Emancipation in this view is education, growth, advance. The possibility of it rests on living faith, and the realisation of it is gradual, to be carried forward day by day. We have not yet attained, neither are we already perfect, but we follow after, pressing toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. In His footsteps we should be seeking to walk, and only as we are doing so are we preparing ourselves for the engagements and the delights of the Better Land. That such is the nature of the redemption spoken of in the text becomes still clearer when we observe that those spoken of are to be redeemed from the earth. By the earth is meant the lower nature, and what stands related to it. To be redeemed from the earth is to be lifted above it, to use it without abusing it, to act under the control of the Spirit, and this is a movement that should be upward as well as onward–not monotonous progress on a dead level, but achievement, victory, exaltation. It must be apparent to every one that redemption from earth means meetness for heaven, Heaven and earth, in their spiritual use, stand opposed to each other. To be subject to the one is to be beyond the range and influence of the other. We should then be striving after this redemption; we should be seeking to value aright the things around, and we should be endeavouring to free ourselves from their dominion; we should be struggling, that the evil powers within may be subdued–knowing that only thus can we be prepared for joining the glorious company above, for learning the new song, and for celebrating the praise of Him who hath wrought salvation for us. (James Kidd, B.A.)
The new song
Whilst passing in early manhood through a stage of deep dejection, John Stuart Mill found occasional comfort in music. One day he was thrown into a state of profound gloom by the thought that musical combinations were exhaustible. The octave was only composed of five tones and two semi-tones. Not all the combinations of these notes were harmonious, so there must be a limit somewhere to the possibilities of melody. No such possibility can limit the range of the new song, for it shall be pitched to the key of Gods ever-renewed mercies. We need not dread an eternity of monotonous, mill-round worship. The originality of Gods mercy will be a spring of originality in us. (T. G. Selby.)
No man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand.–
Man training for heaven
I. Heaven requires his training. Man cannot blend in the happy harmony of the celestial state without previous training. Analogy would suggest this. In the physical system, every being is fitted to his position; his organism is suited to his locality. In the social system the same principle of fitness is required. The stolid clown could not occupy the professors chair; nor could he who is reckless concerning law, right, and order, occupy the bench of justice. It is just so in relation to heaven. To feel at home in the society of the holy, cheerfully to serve the Creator and His universe, and to be in harmony with all the laws, operations, and beings, in the holy empire, we must manifestly be invested with the same character. But what is the training necessary? It is moral–the training of the spiritual sympathies; the heart being brought to say, Thy will be done.
II. Redemption is the condition of his training. Those who were redeemed from the earth. The redemption here referred to is evidently that procured by the system of Christ (Rev 5:9). The training requires something more than education; it needs emancipation–the delivering of the soul from certain feelings and forces incompatible with holiness–a deliverance from the guilt and power of evil. The grand characteristic of Christianity is, that it is a power to redeem from all evil.
III. The earth is the scene of his training. Redeemed from the earth. The brightest fact in the history of the dark world is, that it is a redemptive scene. Amidst all the clouds and storms of depravity and sorrow that sweep over our path, this fact rises up before us as a bright orb that shall one day dispel all gloom and hush all tumult. Thank God, this is not a retributive, but a redemptive scene. But it should be remembered that it is not only a redemptive scene, but the only redemptive scene. (Homilist.)
Angelic incompetency
It seems that when the song of grace rises in heaven, there are a great multitude who are incompetent to take part in it. What is the song that utterly defies the unfallen spirits of heaven? It is the song of redemption, and I shall give you two or three reasons why those unfallen spirits find it an impossibility to sing it.
1. First, they never were redeemed from sins. Standing in the light of heaven, they know nothing about the joy of rescue. Having sailed for ages on the smooth seas of heaven, they know nothing about the joy of clambering out from the eternal shipwreck. Beautiful and triumphant song, but they cannot sing it. It is to them an eternal impossibility.
2. Again, these unfallen spirits of heaven cannot mingle in that anthem because they do not know what it is to be comforted in suffering. You sometimes find a pianist who has been through all the schools, and has his diploma; but there seems to be no feeling in his playing. You say: Whats the matter with that musician? Why, I will tell you: he has never had any trouble. But after he has lost children, or been thrust into sickness, then he begins to pour out the deep emotion of his own soul into the instrument, and all hearts respond to it. So, I suppose that our sorrows here will be somewhat preparative for the heavenly accord. It will not be a cold artistic trill, but a chant struck through with all the tenderness of this worlds sufferings.
3. Again, I remark that the unfallen spirits of heaven cannot join in the anthem of grace in heaven, because they never were helped to die. Death is a tremendous pass. Do you not suppose when we get through that dark pass of death, we are going to feel gratitude to Christ, and that we will have a glorious anthem of praise to sing to Him? But what will those unfallen spirits of heaven do with such a song as that? They never felt the death shudder. They never heard the moan of the dismal sea. But you say: That makes only a half and half heaven; so many of these spirits will be silent. Oh, there will be anthems in which all the hosts of heaven can join. The fact that there will be a hundred and forty and four thousand, as stated in the text, intimates that there will be a vast congregation participating. That song is getting sweeter and louder all the time. Some of our friends have gone up and joined in it. If our hearing were only good enough, we would hear their sweet voices rippling on the night air. (T. De Witt Talmage.)
Not defiled with women.–
Undefiled
The words cannot be literally understood, but must be taken in the sense of similar words of the Apostle Paul, when, writing to the Corinthians, he says, For I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy; for I espoused you to one husband, that I might present you as a pure virgin to Christ. Such a pure virgin were the hundred and forty and four thousand now standing upon the Mount Zion. They had renounced all that unfaithfulness to God and to Divine truth which is so often spoken of in the Old Testament as spiritual fornication or adultery. They had renounced all sin. In the language of St. John in his first Epistle, they had the true God, and eternal life. They had guarded themselves from idols. (W. Milligan, D. D.)
Follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth.—
The followers of the Lamb
I. An outline of the character of those blessed ones while they are here.
1. First, notice their adherence to the doctrine of sacrifice while they are here: These are they which follow the Lamb.
2. And, next, it is clear of these people that they followed the Lamb by practically imitating Christs example, for it is written, These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. Try to put your feet down in the footprints that He has left you. Do aim at complete conformity to Christ; and wherein you fail, mark that.
3. Now, notice in the sketch of these people that they recognised a special redemption: These were redeemed from among men. Christ had done something for them that He had not done for others.
4. And as they recognized a special redemption, they made a full surrender of themselves to God and to the Lamb: These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. If you are the firstfruits unto God, be so; if you belong to yourself, serve yourself; but if, by the redemption of Christ, you are not your own, but bought with a price, then live as those who are the Kings own, who must serve God, and cannot be content unless their every action shall tend to the Divine glory, and to the magnifying of Christ Jesus.
5. These people who are to be with Christ, the nearest to Him, are a people free from falsehood. In their mouth was found no guile. If we profess to be Christians, we must have done with all craft, policy, double-dealing, and the like. The Christian man should be a plain man, who says what he means, and means what he says.
6. And then, once more, it is said that they are free from blemish; they are without fault before the throne of God.
II. A glimpse of the perfect picture in heaven.
1. Well, first, those who are with Christ enjoy perfect fellowship with Him. Up there, they follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. They are always with Him.
2. Well, now, notice in this complete picture, next, that up there they are perfectly accepted with God: These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. God always accepts them; He always looks upon them as His firstfruits, bought with His Sons blood, and brought by His Son into His heavenly temple, to be His for ever. Sometimes here we mar our service; but they never mar it there.
3. Observe, also, that they have perfect truth there in heart and soul: In their mouth was found no guile. No lie, says the Revised Version. Here, we do fail into error inadvertently, and sometimes, I fear me, negligently.
4. One more feature of that perfect picture is this, they enjoy perfect sinlessness before God: They are without fault before the throne of God. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The followers of Jesus
I. The instructive view of Christians which the text presents.
1. To follow Jesus is to maintain a visible profession of His religion. Are we doing this, or are we halting and hesitating? Is our character uniform, or are we religious and the contrary just as serves our convenience, and meets the wishes of our associates?
2. To follow Jesus is to receive Him as a Saviour. This implies the subjection of the soul to Him.
3. To follow Jesus is to listen to Him as a teacher. A scholar follows his master; he respects his authority.
4. To follow Jesus is to obey Him as a Sovereign.
5. To follow Jesus is to imitate Him as an example.
II. What there is in such persons remarkable; or why our attention should be so particularly directed to them: These are they.
1. We see in them the favourites of heaven. The Lord loves them; He honours them; He delights to bless them, and to do them good.
2. We see in them the monuments of Divine mercy. These are they whom God hath called out of darkness into His marvellous light.
3. They are the most honourable characters on the face of the earth. Honourable in reality, not in appearance; in the sight of angels and of God, not perhaps in the judgment of men.
4. They are the most happy persons in times of difficulty and trial. These enter into the spirit and life of religion: they taste its comfort, they prove its real enjoyment.
5. They are the instruments of the Redeemers glory. All Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine; and I am glorified in them; glorified in their faith, their patience, their hope, but especially in their holy and active obedience.
6. They will be the inhabitants of a better world, the companions of Christ in His kingdom.
In that upper world they still follow Him, but without the least reluctance, without the most distant feeling of languor. Reflections:
1. Are we the followers of Jesus?
2. What cause have we all to lament our carelessness and cowardice in religious concerns!
3. Let us rise to greater vigour in the ways of the Lord, and be unreservedly devoted to Him. (T. Kidd.)
Devotion to Christ
I. In devotion to Christ we find the true guide of life.
II. In devotion to Christ, we find the true joy of life.
III. In following Christ is revealed to us the true end of life. (R. Forgan, B. D.)
The followers of the Lamb
I. What it is to follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. In His commandments–teaching–providences–example. Truly, without hypocrisy; constantly, without apostasy. Speedily, truly, undividedly, zealously, humbly, cheerfully, diligently, constantly, faithfully, transcendently.
II. Why they follow the Lamb. Because they are redeemed by His blood–enlightened by Him–loving Him–possessing His spirit, etc.
III. The excellency of following the Lamb. They have His presence–shall know His mind–may come boldly to Him–shall be protected by Him, etc.
IV. How they may be known who follow the Lamb. By their character–spirit–name–graces–associates–language. (W. Dyer.)
Absolute obedience to the guidance of Christ
We do not, of course, take the number here specified as implying more than greatness and completeness. It is based, probably, upon the number of the twelve apostles, and of the twelve tribes largely multiplied, and expresses, as has been said, the native and not degenerate progeny of the apostles. They are the princes of the kingdom, perfect in a multiform unity, which are so delineated, equally derived from every quarter. What has won them their high pre-eminence? What has caused them to excel their brethren, so as to stand nearest to the Lamb upon the heavenly mount? Others may be pure, for the pure alone shall see God; others are redeemed, for otherwise there could be no salvation; but that which builds the thrones of the twelve and the long line of saints who come after is the following–the Lamb whithersoever He goeth.
I. It is probable that there are few, if any, amongst you who do not hold what called the main truths of the gospel. Complete unbelief is yet a rare thing amongst us. But if we go a little further and inquire to what the acceptance of the Christian Faith on the part of the multitude amounts, it will be found that their belief is but vague and general, that a vast element of scepticism mingles with their faith. To a certain extent, and to a certain extent only, do they follow the leading of Christ. Whilst He speaks of that which is easy of apprehension, which accords with the natural instinct, or is of palpable utility, they attend Him closely. Lo! He tells of meekness, and purity, and uprightness, and charity; they go heartily along with Him. He warns of a judgment to come, by which the inequalities of this earthly life shall be adjusted; this squares with the conclusion of human intellect and is cordially received. But when He would lead them further, to the acceptance of truths which cannot be demonstrated, which to some extent, at any rate, must be believed on the witness of others, they recoil. Thus the duty and expediency of public worship is admitted. It is a national acknowledgment of duty, an instrument of Christian instruction; but to partake of the Blessed Sacrament involves the admission of certain supernatural powers still operating among us, and forthwith the great congregation dwindles to a scanty company. Nay, is not this sort of feeling on the increase? Just as there have been those who would not neglect prayer, though abstaining from Holy Communion; so, because prayer involves the present action of God, we are now hearing of men refusing to pray, and reducing religion yet further to the hearing and acting out moral lessons. Thus, while the guidance of the Lamb conducts to the knowledge of what is within the grasp of human reason, men are well pleased to wait upon His steps; but no sooner does He move, as it were, out of the open country, and pass onward into the narrower defiles of a land on which rest clouds and darkness, and there is nothing to guide save His footfall, than their steps halt. They follow Him not whithersoever He goeth.
II. But we would not confine the application of the text to the case of doctrine; it may well be extended to that of practice also. There is no more sad spectacle than that of a man whose conduct falls short of his convictions. He can admire the nobility of character, the self-devotion, the unworldliness of the saints of God; he is acute enough to perceive that the doctrines which theoretically he has accepted do, if fairly worked out, lead to a higher line of life; but, withal, he shrinks from pursuing it. He foresees how much must be surrendered, how many difficulties must be encountered, how few, perhaps, will appreciate him when all is done; and so he continues to live on a commonplace life of coldness and self-indulgence, with high principles and low practice–a splendid ideal, but no personal approach to it. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth! How do they stand out, those saintly ones, in sharpest contrast with the half-obedience of ordinary Christians! Once having embraced the faith, theirs was the firm, unflinching tread of men prepared to resign all, to lose all. Through evil report and good report, through honour and dishonour, they followed their Lord whithersoever He led. Whithersoever–to the snapping asunder of closest ties, to the abandonment of our cherished hopes. Whithersoever–to the restraint of the reasoning faculty, to the submission of private opinion, to the subjection of the will, to the quenching of the passions. Would to God we might only drink in a little of their temper! There is, it has been well said, a first superficial will in man which resents opposition, refuses chastisement, as the child puts from it the medicine draught. So even Jesus Christ prayed that the cup might pass from Him. There is a second, deliberative will in man, which is formed upon reflection, and which is, in fact, the real act of volition. By this Jesus Christ took the cup and drank it to the dregs. That, whatever our first impulse, this second truest will shall in all things acquiesce in what God speaks and does about us and for us, must be our effort; so only can we train ourselves here for following the Lamb whithersoever He goeth along the infinite windings of the Everlasting Hills. (Bp. Woodford.)
The firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.—
The greater salvation
There is a salvation greater and less. For here it is said that these hundred and forty-four thousand are firstfruits. Therefore we learn–
I. What these are not.
1. They are not all the saved. The very word indicates that there is much more to follow. They are but the beginning. Nor–
2. Are these firstfruits the mass of the saved. True, a large number is named; but what is that compared with the great multitude that no man can number, out of every, etc.
II. What they are. The word firstfruits teaches us that these thus named are–
1. The pledge of all the rest. Thus Christ has become the Firstfruits of them that slept (1Co 15:20). And so the natural firstfruits of corn guaranteed the rest of the harvest. For the same sun, and all other nurturing forces which had ripened the firstfruits, were there ready to do the same kindly office for all the rest. And so we are told, The Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies. The same power is present for both the first and after fruits.
2. The pattern and representative of all the rest. Compare the first and after fruits. In the main they were alike, and so in the spiritual world also. But–
3. The firstfruits were pre-eminent over the rest. They were specially presented to God, and held in honour; so was it with the natural grain. But, without question, there is pre-eminence implied in being the firstfruits of the heavenly harvest.
(1) In time. Theirs is the first resurrection, of which we read in chap. 20. The rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years, etc. (chap. 20.).
(2) In honour. St. Paul called it the prize of our high calling of God in Christ Jesus. And our Lord tells us that there is a first and last in the kingdom of heaven; a least and a greatest. One star differeth from another star in glory. There is an entrance administered abundantly, and there is a being saved so as by fire.
(3) In service. That they were pre-eminent here, who that knows their history on earth, or reads even this book, will question?
(4) In character. See how they are described as to their spiritual purity, their unreserved consecration, their separateness from the world, their guilelessness and freedom from all deceit.
(5) In the approval of God. Of them it is written, Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection (chap. 20.).
4. They are the elect of God. In another part of this book they are spoken of as the called, and chosen, and faithful. All are not firstfruits, greatest, first, in the kingdom of heaven. The very words imply order, gradation, rank. But it is for us to take heed as to–
III. What we should strive to be. (S. Conway, B. A.)
The Church Gods firstfruits
The mention of the hundred and forty and four thousand as firstfruits suggests the thought of something to follow. What that is it is more difficult to say. It can hardly be other Christians belonging to a later age of the Churchs history upon earth, for the end is come. It can hardly be Christians who have done or suffered more than other members of the Christian family, for in St. Johns eyes all Christians are united to Christ, alike in work and martyrdom. Only one supposition remains. The hundred and forty and four thousand, as the whole Church of God, are spoken of in the sense in which the same expression is used by the Apostle James: Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures. Not as the first portion of the Church on earth, to be followed by another portion, but as the first portion of a kingdom of God wider and larger than the Church, are the words to be understood. The whole Church is Gods firstfruits, and when she is laid upon His altar we have the promise that a time is coming when creation shall follow in her train, when it shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God, when the mountains and the hills shall break forth before the Redeemer into singing, and all the trees of the fields shall clap their hands. Why shall nature thus rejoice before the Lord? Let the Psalmist answer: For He cometh, for He cometh to judge the earth: He shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with His truth. (W. Milligan, D. D.)
In their mouth was found no guile.–
Truthfulness
It is related that when Petrarch, the Italian poet, a man of strict integrity, was summoned as a witness, and offered in the usual manner to take an oath before a court of justice, the judge closed the book, saying, As to you, Petrarch, your word is sufficient.
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
CHAPTER XIV.
The Lamb on mount Sion, and his company and their character,
1-5.
The angel flying in the midst of heaven, with the everlasting
Gospel, 6, 7.
Another angel proclaims the fall of Babylon, 8.
A third angel denounces God’s judgments against those who
worship the beast or his image, 9-11.
The patience of the saints, and the blessedness of them who die
in the Lord, 12, 13.
The man on the white cloud, with a sickle, reaping the earth,
14-16.
The angel with the sickle commanded by another angel, who had
power over fire, to gather the clusters of the vines of the
earth, 17, 18.
They are gathered and thrown into the great winepress of God’s
wrath, which is trodden without the city, and the blood comes
out 1600 furlongs, 19, 20.
NOTES ON CHAP. XIV.
Verse 1. A Lamb stood on the mount Sion] This represents Jesus Christ in his sacrificial office; mount Sion was a type of the Christian Church.
And with him a hundred forty and four thousand] Representing those who were converted to Christianity from among the Jews. See Re 7:4.
His Father’s name written in their foreheads.] They were professedly, openly, and practically, the children of God, by faith in Christ Jesus. Different sects of idolaters have the peculiar mark of their god on their foreheads. This is practised in the east to the present day, and the mark is called the sectarial mark. Between eighty and ninety different figures are found on the foreheads of different Hindoo deities and their followers.
Almost every MS. of importance, as well as most of the versions and many of the fathers, read this clause thus: Having HIS NAME and his Father’s name written upon their foreheads. This is undoubtedly the true reading, and is properly received by Griesbach into the text.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
God, in this part of the vision, showeth his servant John, that during the whole reign of antichrist, till the voice mentioned Rev 14:8,
Babylon is fallen, should be heard, notwithstanding all his rage, he would preserve his church, though it would be but a small number, bearing no better proportion to the whole world than one hundred and forty-four thousand (the number of those sealed of each tribe of Israel, Rev 7:1-17) bare to whole Israel, which were above six hundred thousand upon both their numberings, Num 1:26. The
Lamb here signifieth Christ, Rev 5:6.
Mount Sion signifieth the church of the gospel, typified by Mount Sion amongst the Jews where the temple stood.
An hundred forty and four thousand is the same number that was sealed of all the tribes of Israel, Rev 7:1-17; not that there was just so many which made up the church under antichrists persecution; but it signifies:
1. A small number in comparison of such as should be of another stamp.
2. It is a number made up of twelve times twelve, by which is signified that they were a people that should answer the Israelites indeed of the Old Testament, that remnant of the twelve tribes whom God had chosen, who adhere to the doctrine and precepts of the twelve apostles.
Having his Fathers name written in their foreheads; making an open profession of being the children and servants of God: as those servants and soldiers did that had anciently the names of their masters and generals in their foreheads; it being an ancient custom for masters to brand their servants, and captains their soldiers, as we do our beasts at this day.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
1. aA, B, C, Coptic,and ORIGEN read, “the.“
Lamb . . . on . . .Sionhaving left His position “in the midst of thethrone,” and now taking His stand on Sion.
his Father’s nameA, B,and C read, “His name and His Father’s name.”
inGreek,“upon.” God’s and Christ’s name here answers to theseal “upon their foreheads” in Re7:3. As the 144,000 of Israel are “the first-fruits”(Re 14:4), so “theharvest” (Re 14:15) isthe general assembly of Gentile saints to be translated by Christ asHis first act in assuming His kingdom, prior to His judgment (Re16:17-21, the last seven vials) on the Antichristian world, inexecuting which His saints shall share. As Noah and Lot were takenseasonably out of the judgment, but exposed to the trialto the last moment [DEBURGH], so those who shallreign with Christ shall first suffer with Him, being delivered out ofthe judgments, but not out of the trials. The Jews aremeant by “the saints of the Most High”: against themAntichrist makes war, changing their times and laws; for trueIsraelites cannot join in the idolatry of the beast, any more thantrue Christians. The common affliction will draw closely together, inopposing the beast’s worship, the Old Testament and New Testamentpeople of God. Thus the way is paved for Israel’s conversion. Thislast utter scattering of the holy people’s power leads them,under the Spirit, to seek Messiah, and to cry at His approach,”Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb,…. The Alexandrian copy, and some others, read “the Lamb”; the same that had been seen before in, the midst of the throne, Re 5:6; and all the Oriental versions have the same article also; the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, for mention is made of his Father in a following clause; the King of Zion, where he is seen standing, and the Redeemer of his people, who are at large described; it is the same Lamb who is so often spoken of in this book before: in the two preceding chapters an account is given of the state of the church, as oppressed under Rome Pagan, and Rome Papal, and here of its more glorious and victorious condition, with Christ at the head of it; in the last chapter antichrist is described, with his followers and worshippers, and as exercising tyranny and cruelty upon the saints, and here Christ and his followers are represented in vision, and some hints given of the fall of Babylon, and of the wrath of God upon the worshippers of the beast, and of the happiness of those who belong to the Lamb: and of him it is here said, that he
stood on the Mount Zion; by which is meant not heaven, but the church on earth; why that is called Mount Zion, [See comments on Heb 12:22]; here Christ the Lamb stood, as presiding over it, being King of Zion, or the church; where he stood and fed, or ruled, in the name of the Lord, and in the majesty of his God; and where he appeared in the defence of his church and people, oppressed by antichrist; for he is Michael that standeth for the children of his people, and who stands with courage, and in the greatness of his strength, and is invincible; nor does he stand here alone:
and with him an hundred forty [and] four thousand; the same with those in Re 7:3, though all the world wondered after the beast, and all that dwelt upon the earth worshipped him, yet there was a number preserved that did not bow the knee to him; a remnant according to the election of grace, who were called out of the world, and brought to Zion, and were on the side of the Lamb, and abode by him, and cleaved unto him:
having his Father’s name written in their foreheads; not baptism, administered in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, as some think; nor eternal election, as others, though as their names were written in the Lamb’s book of life, so this was manifest to themselves and others, as if his name and his Father’s had been written in their foreheads; but rather adoption, the new name of a child of God, they having the spirit of adoption, whereby they cried, “Abba”, Father, and being openly and manifestly the children of God, by faith in Christ Jesus; unless it should be thought there is an allusion to the inscription in the mitre on the forehead of the high priest, “holiness to the Lord”, and so be expressive of that visible holiness which will be on the saints in the spiritual reign of Christ, which this vision respects; see Zec 14:20; or to the frontlets between the eyes of the people of Israel, to put them in mind of the law, and their obedience to it, De 6:8; and so may here denote the engagements of those saints in the service of God; though perhaps no more is intended than their open and hearty profession of their faith, and that they were not ashamed of appearing in the cause of God and truth; nor of Christ and his words, his Gospel and ordinances: the Alexandrian copy, the Complutensian edition, the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Arabic versions, read, “having his name, (the Lamb’s,) and his Father’s name written in their foreheads”; and the Ethiopic version adds, “and of his Holy Spirit”. Mr. Daubuz thinks this vision refers to the times of Constantine, and to the Christians then, and particularly the council of Nice, and as contemporary with that in Re 7:9.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| The Lamb and His Attendants. | A. D. 95. |
1 And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him a hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads. 2 And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps: 3 And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth. 4 These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. 5 And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.
Here we have one of the most pleasing sights that can be viewed in this world–the Lord Jesus Christ at the head of his faithful adherents and attendants. Here observe, 1. How Christ appears: as a Lamb standing upon mount Zion. Mount Zion is the gospel church. Christ is with his church and in the midst of her in all her troubles, and therefore she is not consumed. It is his presence that secures her perseverance; he appears as a Lamb, a true Lamb, the Lamb of God. A counterfeit lamb is mentioned as rising out of the earth in the last chapter, which was really a dragon; here Christ appears as the true paschal Lamb, to show that his mediatorial government is the fruit of his sufferings, and the cause of his people’s safety and fidelity. 2. How his people appear: very honourably. (1.) As to the numbers, they are many, even all who are sealed; not one of them lost in all the tribulations through which they have gone. (2.) Their distinguishing badge: they had the name of God written in their foreheads; they made a bold and open profession of their faith in God and Christ, and, this being followed by suitable actings, they are known and approved. (3.) Their congratulations and songs of praise, which were peculiar to the redeemed (v. 3); their praises were loud as thunder, or as the voice of many waters; they were melodious, as of harpers; they were heavenly, before the throne of God. The song was new, suited to the new covenant, and unto that new and gracious dispensation of Providence under which they now were; and their song was a secret to others, strangers intermeddled not with their joy; others might repeat the words of the song, but they were strangers to the true sense and spirit of it. (4.) Their character and description. [1.] They are described by their chastity and purity: They are virgins. They had not defiled themselves either with corporal or spiritual adultery; they had kept themselves clean from the abominations of the antichristian generation. [2.] By their loyalty and stedfast adherence to Christ: They follow the Lamb withersoever he goes; they follow the conduct of his word, Spirit, and providence, leaving it to him to lead them into what duties and difficulties he pleases. [3.] By their former designation to this honour: These were redeemed from among men, being the first-fruits to God, and to the Lamb, v. 4. Here is plain evidence of a special redemption: They were redeemed from among men. Some of the children of men are, by redeeming mercy, distinguished from others: They were the first-fruits to God, and to the Lamb, his choice ones, eminent in every grace, and the earnest of many more who should be followers of them, as they were of Christ. [4.] By their universal integrity and conscientiousness: There was no guile found in them, and they were without fault before the throne of God. They were without any prevailing guile, any allowed fault; their hearts were right with God, and, as for their human infirmities, they were freely pardoned in Christ. This is the happy remnant who attend upon the Lord Jesus as their head and Lord; he is glorified in them, and they are glorified in him.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
The Lamb ( ). See Rev 5:6; Rev 7:17; Rev 12:11; Rev 13:8 and is in contrast with the anarthrous in 13:11. This proleptic vision of the Lamb “standing on the mount Zion” ( , second perfect active participle neuter of with and accusative) is reasoning after the visions of the two beasts. Mount Zion is the site of the new city of God (Heb 12:22), the Jerusalem above (Ga 4:26), the seat of the Messianic Kingdom whether heaven or the new earth (Rev 14:21; Rev 14:22). These victors have the name of the Lamb and God upon their foreheads as in Rev 3:12; Rev 22:4, in place of the mark of the beast above (Rev 13:16; Rev 14:11). This seal protects them (9:4).
A hundred and forty and four thousand ( ). “Thousands” literally ( feminine word for a thousand and so feminine plural). For the 144,000 see Rev 7:5; Rev 7:8, though some scholars seek a distinction somehow.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
A lamb. Read “the lamb.” See ch. Rev 5:6.
Stood [] . The participle, standing, as Rev.
His Father ‘s name. Add aujtou kai to onoma His and the name, and render as Rev., His name and the name of His Father.
The Adoration of the Lamb is the subject of the great altar piece in the church of St. Bavon at Ghent, by John and Hubert Van Eyck. The scene is laid in a landscape. The background is formed by a Flemish city, probably intended to represent Jerusalem, and by churches and monasteries in the early Netherland style. The middle ground is occupied by trees, meadows, and green slopes. In the very center of the picture a square altar is hung With red damask and covered with a white cloth. Here stands a lamb, from whose breast a stream of blood issues into a crystal glass. Angels kneel round the altar with parti – colored wings and variegated dresses, many of them praying with joined hands, others holding aloft the emblems of the passion, two in front waving censers. From the right, behind the altar, issues a numerous band of female saints, all in rich and varied costumes, fair hair floating over their shoulders, and palms in their hands. Foremost may be noticed Sta. Barbara and Sta. Agnes. From the left advance popes, cardinals, bishops, monks, and minor clergy, with crosiers, crosses, and palms. In the center, near the base, a. small octagonal fountain of stone projects a stream into a clear rill. Two groups are in adoration on each side of the fountain, – on the right, the twelve apostles kneeling barefoot, and an array of popes, cardinals, and bishops, with a miscellaneous crowd of church – people; on the left, kings and princes in various costumes. They are surrounded by a wilderness of flowering shrubs, lilies, and other plants. on the wings of the picture numerous worshippers move toward the place of worship, – crusaders, knights, kings, and princes, including the figures of the two artists on horseback. “Here, approaching from all sides, are seen that ‘great multitude of all nations and hundreds and people and tongues ‘ – the holy warriors and the holy pilgrims, coming in solemn processions from afar – with other throngs already arrived in the celestial plain, clothed in white robes, and holding palms in their hands. Their forms are like unto ours; the landscape around them is a mere transcript of the sweet face of our outer nature; the graceful wrought – iron fountain in the midst is such an one as still sends forth its streams in an ancient Flemish city; yet we feel these creatures to be beings from whose eyes God has wiped away all tears – who will hunger and thirst no more; our imagination invests these flowery meads with the peace and radiance of celestial precincts, while the streams of the fountain are converted into living waters, to which the Lamb Himself will ‘lead His redeemed. Here, in short, where all is human and natural in form, the spiritual depths of our nature are stirred” (Mrs. Jameson, “History of Our Lord,” 2, 339).
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
Note: see also Introduction Revelation
1) “And I looked, and lo,” (kai eidon, kai idou) “and I looked and behold; There was something I beheld that was special, a marvel, a wonder.
2) “A Lamb stood on the Mount Zion,” (to arnion hestos epi to horos Sion) “The Lamb (was) standing on Mount Zion,” the very Son of God was beheld as standing on Mount Zion, His coming seat of Kingly reign, but not alone. Isa 35:10; Rom 11:26; Joe 2:32; Mic 4:7; Heb 12:22.
3) “And with him an hundred forty and four thousand,” (kai met’ autou hekaton tesserakonta tessares chiliades) and with him stood an hundred and forty and four thousand,” those previously referred to as saints of God, who had been sealed against death, for the last 42 months, during the final horrors of the time of Jacob’s trouble, representing redeemed from the twelve tribes. Rev 7:3-4; Rev 12:6; Rev 12:13-18; Rom 11:26.
4) “Having his Father’s name,” (echous ai to onoma autou kai to onoma tou patros autou) “having his name and the name of his Father; The name or mark of a servant’s Master or soldier’s commander or general was usually worn on the servant’s or soldier’s hand or forehead. These belonged to God and Christ. Mar 9:41; 1Co 3:23; 1Co 6:19-20.
5) “Written in their foreheads,” (gegramenon epi ton Metopon auton) “which had been written or inscribed upon their foreheads;” this mark denotes ownership and allegiance to Jesus Christ and his Father, such as may have come through suffering for his name. Gal 6:17; 2Co 11:23.
MARKS OF SERVITUDE
It was a custom among the ancients for servants to receive the mark of their master, and soldiers of their general, and those who were devoted to any particular idol the mark of that particular idol. These marks were usually impressed on their right hands, or on their foreheads (Rev 13:1 to Rev 14:20), and consisted of some hieroglyphic character, or of the name expressed in vulgar letters, or in numerical characters. Gal 6:17: “The marks of the Lord Jesus.” What these marks were, the Apostle explains by the stripes, etc., mentioned in 2Co 11:23. There is a beautiful allusion to the stigma – marks which were sometimes fixed on servants and soldiers, to show to whom they belonged. How strikingly do these two remarks illustrate the scene of Jesus the Lamb of God, the all-conquering Redeemer, standing as the great Captain of Salvation at the head of His brave army of saints on Mount Sion. “I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the Mount Sion, and with Him an hundred forty and four thousand, having His Father’s name written in their foreheads.”
Bib. Treas.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
THE USURPERS SHORT REIGN
Rev 13:1 to Rev 14:20
TWO volumes are worthy of wide reading. One of these comes from the pen of that once brilliant, studious layman, Philip Mauro, and is entitled, The Number of Man, and the other from New Yorks most notable pastor-preacher, Dr. I. M. Haldeman, and bears the title, The Signs of the Times.
They illustrate how the lay mind, and that of the schooled minister run together, when each pursues an unbiased study of the Bible.
Their views of the antichrist are in fundamental agreement. The period of his supremacy is to be short, and the march of modern movements in both the secular and religious world, indicate his soon-coming. They read this in the decline of faith as expressed by the word modernism, which stands for the repudiation of all supernatural and sacred authority; they read it in the progress of the devils lie, that men by natural wisdom can know all there is to be known of God. They read it in that mental assassination that is voiced by Theosophy, New Thought, Christian Science, and allied deceptions; they read it in that increasing strife that takes the form of growing Socialism in one land, Anarchy in another, and Nihilism in a third. They read it in that inordinate greed that characterizes corporate wealth, on the part of co-operating individuals, and increased navies and armies, on the part of mighty nations; they read it in the widespread apostasy in Protestantism, and the cunning consummation of papal powers and plans. They hold that the rise of the antichrist will be the signal of the parousia or the sudden appearance of Christ in the heavens to catch up His people for the brief period of the blessed Rapture in which the antichrist, the beast and the false prophet shall have their bloody day on earth, to be ended by the Epiphany, or the revelation of the King, coming in power, attended by His saints, to uncrown and conquer His enemy and take the throne.
The Revelation, 13th and 14th chapters, present the antichrist, and false prophet, and some features of the final conflict.
THE FIRST BEASTTHE ANTICHRIST
And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy, etc. (Rev 13:1-10).
To four facts we call attention.
FirstThe rise of the beast is political.
And I * * saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns.
To rise up out of the earth is an expression employed in Scripture to express exaltation from among the people; and if one will follow the Word through, he will see that to rise up out of the sea, is to come forth from the midst of agitated peoples. In Isa 57:20 we read, The wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire. In Daniels (Dan 7:3) vision, four great beasts come up from the sea; and you will remember that when he afterward interprets, he tells us that this was out of the turbulent nations of his time; and in Rev 17:15, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.
This beast then will come to his ascendency in a time when the states of the earth are turbulent; just such a condition as Christ Himself describes as set to characterize the last days. See Mat 24:6-21.
If there were needed further proof that his rise is political, that exists abundantly in the figure of the seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns. Daniel has forever settled the question of the meaning of horns, heads and diadems. See Dan 7:24.
If the beasts of Daniels vision represented, as he tells us they did, the Babylonian, Medo-Persian, Graeco-Macedonian and Roman Empires, it is fairly evident that this beast will represent the whole combination of world-powers, the parliament of nations, and that is why he is pictured as having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crownsseven and ten both being Biblical numbers to express entirety or completeness.
Here, then, is presented the worlds last and only perfect potentate. It is a significant thing, as Haldeman remarks, that already we have had seriously advocated the idea that ten of the strong nations of the earth should form themselves into an alliance to regulate the commerce of the earth, and to determine its mooted questions.
His speech is blasphemous!
And upon his heads the name of blasphemy. * *
And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His Name, and His Tabernacle, even them that dwell in Heaven.
For a Biblical definition of blasphemy one needs only to remember that when Jesus had said to the man sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee, certain of the scribes said within themselves, This Man blasphemeth. In other words, He assumed prerogatives that belonged to God alone. Had He been less than God, the charge of the scribes would have been justified. That is the very assumption that is to characterize the antichrist. Paul in his Second Epistle to the Thessalonians (2Th 2:3-4) says, That man of sin shall be revealed, the son of perdition: who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the Temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
There are not a few interpreters of the Word, and among them some of the most scholarly and devout, that believe that this feature of the antichrist finds its perfect fulfilment in the papacy. They call our attention to the fact that time and again Roman pontiffs have been guilty of this blasphemy, and have encouraged the people to join with them in its emphasis. Dr. Gordon in his Ecce Venit catalogues a list of these claims, as do also the other interpreters named. He tells us that Alexander VI., moving to his consecration, passed under a triumphal arch, on which was inscribed, Caesar was a man; Alexander is a god. Marcellus, in an address to Pope Leo X. at the fifth Lateran Council, exclaims, Thou art another God on earth. Gregory II. boasts to the Greek emperor: All the kings of the West reverence the pope as a God on earth. Pope Nicholas wrote: Wherefore, if those things which I do, be said to be done, not of man, but of God, what can you make me but God?
Scores of like claims, equally blasphemous, have from time to time passed the lips of popes and prelates. Yet the study of prophetic subjects compels us to adopt the view expressed by Dr. Parsons in the Prophetic Conference, held in New York City in 1879, and concurred in by Haldeman and great scholars:
While this last feature of the reign of antichrist finds its shadow in the pretentions of the papacy, we still believe that a more concrete future fulfilment, springing out of present and patent channels of blasphemy and corruption, will be seen.
He would be a poor observer of his times that did not see that they are tending more and more to this final consummation. One of the most dangerous doctrines that has broken out, in the ranks of the non-orthodox, is that that insists upon deifying man; and is equally urgent in humanizing God. One needs only to study the subjects treated in books, and expounded from the pulpit, to find how prominent a place has been given to these two the deity of man, and the humanity of God. Protestantism at present, therefore, has among its numbers, leaders not a few whose theology will as surely result in paving the way for the coming blasphemer as has the papacys past claims and conduct. The professed prophets of the present are doing the preliminary work for the great false prophet whose chief business it will be to make the earth and them that dwell in it, to worship the first beast, or man, that shall exalt himself to the place of God over all.
His sovereignty will be extensive.
And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast:
And power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.
And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the Book of Life.
This is not in consonance with the customary cry of Peace! Peace! But what have we, that believe the Word of God, to do with uninspired customs? The sainted Gordon was seldom more eloquent, and never more truthful, than when he said: Prophecy is the mold in which history is cast; no violence of man, no convulsions of nations can either break that mold or constrain the course of history, that the one should not answer to the other point by point, feature by feature! And, unless God be a liar, and this Book which He declares to be His Revelation, deceptious, the sovereignty of Alexander the Great, who is reputed to have wept because there were no more worlds to conquer, will prove to have been an insignificant reign, when, in the light of unfolding history, it will be compelled to endure comparison with that which the dragon, or Satan, will deliver over into the hand of this man to come. His reign shall be exactly co-extensive with that that is pledged to the coming Christ, for while the latter is to reign from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth, the former is to have authority over every tribe, and people, and tongue, and nation; and all that dwell on the earth shall worship him, everyone whose names have not been written in the Book of Life.
There are only about ten great powers in the whole earth today; only about ten potentates who escape the epithet petty. In recent years these more and more claim the right to make conquest of the lesser people and uncrown the little kings. Who can tell what will be the end of this imperialism? Will it not take us back again to the doctrine once regnant in the world, namely, that might is right, and, by the course of history which men shall come to regard as natural, result eventually in that prophesied consummation, a single sovereign whose exalted sub-ordinates shall give him the character of the beast wearing seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns?
His time will be short. Power was given unto him to continue forty and two months, time, times, and half a time, three years and a halfthe brief season in which this antichrist shall exercise his sovereignty, and be able to put into effect his evil and destructive designs. We are not at all able to agree with the brethren that make these 1, 260 days mean so many years. There are three objections to that interpretation, either of which is sufficient. First, it is speculative rather than scriptural; and second, the time is already passed when, tried by that theory, the end of the age would have been on; and finally, if that were true, one might figure out the end of the age, of which knoweth no man. In favor of taking this literally, Reason and Revelation agree. Jesus Christ Himself, in speaking of the end, says,
Then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elects sake those days shall be shortened (Mat 24:21-22).
There are many living that remember what three and a half years of civil war meant; what weariness ; what sickness; what wounds; what slaughter; what bereavements; what despair; and yet, who imagines that those days were even a faint shadow of the sorrows that shall characterize this time of tribulation? Think what anguish the three and a half years of the late world war brought! It is of the mercy of God, therefore, that while Christ is to reign on earth for a thousand years, and at the end of that time, His peaceful sovereignty is to be transferred to Heaven, to continue forever; the bloody reign of His great antagonist, the antichrist, shall be cut short in three and a half seasons, and this usurper shall meet his doom (Rev 20:1-3). It has been so from the first! When Satan triumphed in the Garden of Eden, almost instantly his Conqueror came; while Haman sat at the kings table, the scaff old was building; when Belshazzar exalted himself to heaven, that night he was slain; while Herod was listening to the huzzahs of the people, who were proclaiming him god, he was smitten of worms and died; and right at the time when this antichrist shall have clutched the scepter of universal sovereignty, the hand of might and power shall touch him, his kingdom shall be overthrown, and he himself cast down to chains and imprisonment to be followed by eternal torment, for Johns vision was not ended. He says,
And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat upon the horse, and against his army.
And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought the signs in his sight, wherewith he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image; they both were cast alive into the lake of fire that burneth with brimstone (Rev 19:19-20, R. V.).
THE SECOND BEASTTHE FALSE PROPHET
As Christ had His forerunnerJohn the Baptist and is to have His Elijah for His Second Appearance, so the antichrist will have his prophet.
He will assume the meekest of miens. He had two horns like a lamb. The lamb is the most docile and kindly of the domestic animals. The two horns here are commonly accepted as being symbols of dual character. He claims on the one side, to be a scientist, and on the other, to be a religionist. One of these is the expression of reason, and the other of revelation. The world today is daffy over every man that makes the same claim. As in Hawthornes Great Stone Face, it waits for the coming mana Christian-Scientist, if you please!
But his speech will betray him. For he spake as a dragon. The voice is a marvelous thing. There is no feature of life that better evidences character, whether among men or beasts. The roar of the lion tells the whole story of his make-up; a wolf may sham membership in a flock of sheep, but when he opens his mouth it is to howl and not to bleat.
And so the voice of this beast is the voice of the dragon. When we have become well acquainted with men, our trust or distrust is decided by what passes the lips. The tongue tells the tale of character. And when this false prophet shall appear, the man that is familiar with the Word of God will be the first to detect his falsehoods, and know that whatever his assumptions, he is Satans agent, set to turn men from the truth to believe a lie!
It will argue nothing that he is able to present a prophets credentials. His signs, making even fire to come down out of Heaven to earth in the sight of men, will not suffice. Miracles in themselves will never be a proof of Divine appointment. Pretenders have always, through the power of the evil one, been able to duplicate, in large measure, the wonders that were evidently Divine. You remember that when Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent, the magicians of Egypt cast down every man his rod and they became serpents. Here the devil imitates the Divine miracle. And you will remember that the imitation continued unto the swarm of flies. There were magicians and sorcerers in the Apostles time doing mighty worksthe power of the evil one. In the day of Moses, God declared the law by which all would be judged.
If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder,
And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them;
Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the Lord your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
Ye shall walk after the Lord your God, and fear Him, and keep His Commandments, and obey His voice, and ye shall serve Him, and cleave unto Him.
And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken to turn you away from the Lord your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust thee out of the way which the Lord thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee (Deu 13:1-5).
Catholicism has its wonders; Theosophy its signs; Spiritualism and Christian Science their miracles; they are as well attested as were those of the sorcerers of Moses time. People have gone over to them in great numbers because they have seen these things, falsely supposing that a miracle is always an evidence of Divine appointment. The true test, however, for all fads of faith, a test before which the false prophet himself is to fall, is the test of Deuteronomy. One ought to ask, What doctrine do these people teach? One ought to ask whether they lead to the true and living God, or away from Him? Having learned that, he can settle in a moment whether they are from above or below; prophets true or false. The reason so many people are misled in these matters is that they are so poorly acquainted with the Word of God. You can remind them of the words of Isaiah, To the Law and to the Testimony: if they speak not according to this Word, it is because there is no light in them, but you can help them in nothing if they are not familiar with the Law and the Prophets. We meet people that smile sweetly, and at the same time are members of the Christian Science Church; we have never yet met a Theosophist, a Spiritualist or a Christian Scientist that was decently familiar with the Word of God.
In this, there is a word of awful warning! A man must be grounded in the knowledge of the truth, or else stand in constant danger of giving his worship to the devil, honestly mistaking him for the Christ of God. For this beast will not take on some hideous mien, so that it will be difficult for men to bow before him; on the contrary, peculiar attractiveness will characterize him, so that all the world wondered after the beast. Like Jesus Christ, he shall take upon him the form of a man, for it is written, Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man. Some believe he will be Judas Iscariot, who, by Christ Himself was called the son of perdition; who, by three and a half years of experience, is familiar with all the claims of the Son of God; who, by coming up out of the earth, or from the dead, would have occasion for his pretentions of Divine power; and who, because he was a Jew, could lay claim to being the long expected One; and who, by signs and wonders, being in the employ of Satan, could deceive the very elect.
But no matter who he is, remember that he is a man, filling up the office of the false prophet, leading his followers to worship the antichrist, who is the dragons first confederate in his contest for sovereignty of the earth. Add to this attractiveness the elements of destruction, the threat of death against all that refuse to follow him, and the cowardly of earth will join with this deceiver and go to make up his company.
Many Jewish believers will perish in defense of their newly-found faith, but a remnant of Gods people will flee into the wilderness, as already presented, under the figure of the woman, and the earth will unite in the tribulation of the ages.
It is a dark day when our young men go forth to battle, listening to the martial tread, the blast of the bugle, the command to march. We realize that wounds are ahead of them; but even that prospect is not without its pleasing features, for every good man hopes that out of such a conflict will come righteousness; through the suffering and slaughter of some, a great blessing will be accomplished for many others.
And so we want to present
SOME FEATURES OF THE FINAL CONFLICT
In that day the dragon will face the Lamb. It is a marvelous picture that after having presented this awful dragon and his dreadful confederate the antichristand the false prophetthis trinity of iniquity that the world fears, then John goes on to say,
I looked, and lo, a Lamb stood on the Mount Sion.
But what is a Lamb against such power? What can this gentle domestic one do against the ferocity of these beasts of earth? Rather, what can He not do? He is the Lion of the tribe of Judah, also ! Gentle He is, yet the greatness of God is with Him; kindly, and yet the light from His face shall kindle a conflagration in which this whole hellish host shall find its doom. And God shall prove, in this end of the age, that He can, with the weak, confound the mighty.
You remember the old story of Julian, the apostate, the tyrant and persecutor, and potentate of sorcery! You will remember that he had sold himself to the devil, and put his officer, Mercurius, to death because of his constancy to the Christian faith. There is a tradition to the effect that when Julian led his army against the Persians, St. Basil the Great was favored with miraculous vision. He saw a woman of great beauty seated on a throne, and around her a great multitude of angels. She commanded one of them saying, Go, waken Mercurius, who sleepeth in a sepulcher, that he may slay Julian, the apostate, that brought blasphemy against me and against my son. In the battle next day, when the wicked Emperor was at the head of his army, an unknown warrior of pale face, mounted on a white charger, spurred forward and pierced Julian through the body, and then as suddenly vanished as if he had been an apparition. They carried Julian to his tent; and, putting his hands beneath the wound, he caught some of the blood that flowed from it, and flinging it into the air, he exclaimed, with his last breath, Thou hast conquered; Galilean, Thou hast conquered!
One day this great apostate from the faith, Satan, himself, and his associates, the antichrist and the false prophet, shall be compelled to cry in similar speech to the Lamb, Thou hast conquered! Thou hast conquered!
That day the deceived will face the Faithful. For with the Lamb are an hundred forty and four thousand, having His Fathers Name written in their foreheads, and on their lips will be the song of redemption. Their characters will be spotless and undefiled, and in their mouths will be found no lie. It will be into the face of these that the faithless will be compelled to look. The author never reads the latter part of Matthew without feeling the great significance of that scene; and one of the chief sorrows of those that shall be upon the left, when the Son of Man shall come in His glory, to divide men one from the other, will be facing the faithful; and the view of that triumphant throng, that on His right hand will be answering His welcome, Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
That day falsehood will be met by Truth. The language of the false prophet will still be in the ears of men; the speech of the true will be set to note. For the faithful will sing as it were a new song before the throne and before the elders, namely, the song of Redemption. The cry of the false prophet, which had bidden men to worship the beast of dragon appointment, will be met by the song of the saved, saying, With a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment is come: and worship Him that made Heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.
We have given all too little emphasis to the power of truth in this present age. If men only realized how potent it is against error, they would publish it the more. The author of Quo Vadis has a very fine touch in reporting Cleophas, who related how Jesus had been seen by himself and another; by Mary Magdalene, by His disciples, Thomas being absent, and after eight days, Thomas being present. And how Thomas fell at His feet and cried, My Lord and my God. And Vinicius, listening, something wonderful took place in him; he forgot for the moment where he was. He began to lose the feeling of reality, of measure, of judgment. He stood in the presence of two impossibilities. He could not believe what the old man said, yet felt that he must be blind or lost to reason if he admitted that the man that said, I saw, was lying.
Oh, would God, that those of us that know the truth, and enjoy it, might as Cleophas, tell men what we know, for in this final conflict the crisis for mens souls will depend upon truth.
Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley
THE VISION OF THE FAITHFUL SERVANTS OF GOD
CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES
THAT we may be assured of the safety of Gods faithful ones, even during the time of the triumph of the beast and false prophet, we are shown the sealed ones all secure and in the charge of the Lamb; and we are further assured that seven angels are ministering to the protection and comfort of the imperilled saints. The angel of good news (Rev. 14:6-7); the angel proclaiming the doom of the great world city (Rev. 14:8); the angel who warns men against the mark of the beast (Rev. 14:9-12); the angel of comfort (Rev. 14:13); the angel of the wheat harvest (Rev. 14:14-16); the angel of the vintage (Rev. 14:17-20); the angel of fire (Rev. 14:18).
Rev. 14:1. Fathers name.Read His name and His Fathers name.
Rev. 14:4. Virgins.The term is used figuratively, not literally. They were virgin souls who had not bowed the knee to the image of Baal: and so here they were virgin souls who had refused to offer incense to the bust of the emperor.
Rev. 14:6. Everlasting gospel.With idea of its universal applicability. Everlasting and eternal are constantly used to indicate quality.
Rev. 14:8. Babylon.The type of all cities that stand in the pride of self-reliance, and so put dishonour upon God. Is not this great Babylon which I have builded? Babylon is clearly an emblem of some principles which have been more or less accepted by all nations, and which will more or less involve all in the consequences of her fall.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Rev. 14:1-12
The Bible for the Worlds Salvation.The portion which is most suggestive for the purposes of the preacher is that comprised in Rev. 14:6-7. See a first truth. It is not the Bible as a record of the gospel that saves the world. The gospel saves the world. The gospel is God saving.
I. What is the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God?
1. Good news of God Himself. Good, because no other religion proclaims it. It is the news that God is Love, and that we may use the Father-name for Him, and the fatherly relations to represent Him.
2. Good news of Gods gift. Gave His only begotten Son. A man, given to men. A son, given to prodigals. We have to believe the love God hath to us, as shown in His unspeakable gift.
II. Wherein lies the saving efficacy of this gospel?
1. In its universal adaptation. It is a salvation, not for what is peculiar to some men, or some nations, under some unusual circumstances, but for the woe that is common to all men, which we put into the word sinners. Other religions are limited to particular tribes or nations. Illustrate gods of hills and gods of valleys. Distinct deities in different parts of India.
2. In the power of God that works through it. We must never separate agencies from the Divine life that is in them, and think that agencies can save.
(1) The Bible cannot save.
(2) The gospel cannot save.
(3) Faith cannot save. God saves, through faith, by means of the gospel, which is carried to men in the Bible.
3. In the attraction of Him who is the essence of it. There must be personal soul-relations with Christ, the Living Saviour, if there is to be salvation. And these are brought to men through the attractive power which Christ exerts when lifted up into their view.
III. Where shall we find the gospel enshrined?In the Bible. As the Jews, carried and preserved the primary truths of the unity and spirituality of God for humanity, so the Biblethe whole Biblecarries and preserves the gospelthe primary truths of Divine redemptionfor humanity. The Bible is not a book of science, or of history, or of social principles; these are but its framing, and setting, and illustration. The one concern of the Bible is Religion. It tells us what Gods relations with man have been. That is the very heart of its history. It tells us what mans relations with God should be, and may be. That is its message. It is summed up in the words, He that hath the Son hath life. Men have done the Bible great wrong by taking it to be what it never proposed to be, and never could be. Then to scatter abroad the Bible, in every land and every tongue, is for the angel to fly abroad with the everlasting gospel. There are two ways in which the angelas the symbol of agenciescarries the gospel.
1. It is spoken by the servants of God. At first the message was spoken by aposties and teachers. It was not written and collected together so as to be at the command of evangelists and missionaries, for more than two centuries. At first men were possessed with the Word, and spake what they had in them. And this is the deeper truth, and holier power now. The true speaker is the man who has got the Word in him. Send that man anywhere, and he is an angel, having the everlasting gospel.
2. It is distributed as the book which we call the Word of God. And we can readily recognise the wisdom that lies in the employment of this agency.
(1) Its attractiveness.
(2) Its variety. Suits all ages and all abilities.
(3) Its adaptation to the world, through being Eastern in form.
(4) Its uniqueness, as compared with the Bibles of other religions. Compare Vedas, Koran, Book of Mormon, etc. But these twothe speakers and the Wordare really one, seeing that the speakers only speak the Word. Always the Word is the agency, whether it be heard from the lips or read from a book. And we must face the fact that what a sinful, dying world wants is that gospel which is in the Bible, and which may come to men either as spoken or as read. Both ways we may think of when we sing:
Fly abroad, thou mighty gospel,
Win and conquer, never cease.
For the gospel does everywhereall the world over and all the ages throughprove itself able to meet and satisfy all kinds of spiritual needs that humanity can feel.
SUGGESTIVE NOTES AND SERMON SKETCHES
Rev. 14:1. Marks of Servitude.It was a custom among the ancients for servants to receive the mark of their master, and soldiers of their general, and those who were devoted to any particular idol, the mark of that particular idol. These marks were usually impressed on their right hands, or on their foreheads (Revelation 13, 16), and consisted of some hieroglyphical character, or of the name expressed in vulgar letters, or in numerical characters. Gal. 6:17 : The marks of the Lord Jesus. What these marks were, the apostle explains by the stripes, etc, mentioned in 2Co. 11:23. There is a beautiful allusion to the stigmatamarks which were sometimes fixed on servants and soldiers, to show to whom they belonged. How strikingly do these two remarks illustrate the scene of Jesus the Lamb of God, the all-conquering Redeemer, standing as the great Captain of Salvation at the head of His brave army of saints on Mount Sion! I looked, and lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with Him an hundred forty and four thousand, having His fathers name written in their foreheads.
Rev. 14:6. The Gospel of Retribution.That a Divine judgment impends over all the actions and generations of men; that the hour of judgment is sure to strike at the due moment, let men play what tricks they will with the hands of the clock, and sure to be heard over all the world, let men close their ears as they will; that this fact of impending and inevitable judgment is an eternal or onial gospel, veritable good tidings of great joy to every nation and tribe, tongue and people;all this is at once of supreme importance and supreme interest. A gospel for all men in all ages must be a gospel for us. A gospel weighted by no miracles and no dogmas, a gospel which is open to no question and no doubt, but is felt to be true always, and everywhere, and by all. What, then, is this gospel? It is the gospel of retribution. We are to fear and glorify God because the hour of His judgment is come. This is the truth which the angel, flying in mid-heaven, between God and man, proclaims today, and always has proclaimed, and always will proclaim. This is the truth which St. John calls an eternal gospelnot the gospel, and still less the only gospel, but still a veritable gospel, glad tidings of great joy, to us and to all mankind. If the law of retribution is familiar to you, is it nothing to you to be assured, and assured on the highest authority, that what you admit to be a law is also a gospel? When we are told that Gods judgments on sin are an eternal gospel, a gospel for all beings in all ages, what is implied? This is implied, and there is no truth more precious and more practical: that the judgments of God are corrective, disciplinary, redemptive; that they are designed to turn us away from the sins by which they are provoked; that the message they bring us, and bring from heaven is: Cease to do evil; learn to do well.S. Cox, D.D.
The Everlasting Gospel.Only one gospel is everlasting, which can pass from country to country, from continent to continent, and be at home everywhere; which time cannot wither nor custom stale; which has the safe and certain reversion of all the future. Why is this? What makes the gospel of Christ everlasting?
I. It is a message to what is universal in man.Religions have been the religions of single tribes, or single countries, and have not been adapted for other parts of the world. But the glory of Christianity is that its teaching is addressed to what is most characteristic in human nature, and absolutely the same in all members of the human race, whether they be rich or poor, whether they inhabit one hemisphere or the other, and whether they live in ancient or modern times. You have only to glance at the most outstanding words of the gospel to see this. E.g.,
1. The word soul. Jesus went down to the child, the beggar, the harlot, the weakest and most despised members of the human family, and when He was able to find, even in them, this infinitely precious thing, it was manifest that He had discovered the secret of a universal religion.
2. The word sin. Speak to the conscience, and every human being feels that He is the man.
3. The word eternity. God hath put eternity in their heart. When the hand of the gospel touches this string of the harp of human nature, it responds. On this preaching the union of Christians must be realised.
II. It is a message to what is peculiar in man.It can meet, as they rise, the changing conditions of society; it has an inexhaustible facility of adaptation to the wants and the circumstances of every individual whom it addresses. Some preach to the times, others preach for eternity. The two things are not inconsistent. His gospel has a word in season for every condition of lifefor the little child, the young man in his prime, and for old age; a word for the multitude, and for the few. We have not exhausted Christ, and we have not exhausted the gospel of Christ. The pulpit is too far away from the individual. We must come nearer to men, and acquaint ourselves with the details of their experience. Sympathy is the key which opens the heart. Professional authentication sometimes only creates obstacles; but all difficulties melt away before the force of love.James Stalker, D.D.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Strauss Comments
SECTION 40
Text Rev. 14:1-5
1 And I saw, and behold, the Lamb standing on the mount Zion, and with him a hundred and forty and four thousand, having his name, and the name of his Father, written on their foreheads. 2 And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and the voice which I heard was as the voice of harpers harping with their harps: 3 and they sing as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four living creatures and the elders: and no man could learn the song save the hundred and forty and four thousand, even they that had been purchased out of the earth. 4 These are they that were not defiled with women: for they are virgins. These are they that follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were purchased from among men, to be the firstfruits unto God and unto the Lamb. 5 And in their mouth was found no lie: they are without blemish.
Initial Questions Rev. 14:1-5
1.
Where was the Lamb standing according to Rev. 14:1? Where is Mt. Zion?
2.
Where have we read of the one hundred forty four thousand before in The Revelation?
3.
What was the new song of Rev. 14:3, and who alone could learn the song?
4.
Discuss the real value of a vital, spiritual song service during worship hour in light of the fact that it is through song that redeemed shout the praises of God.
5.
Does Rev. 14:4 teach that a celibate life is a higher form of spiritual life than the marriage state (as according to Roman Catholic teaching)?
6.
What spiritual or moral significance can the designation virgin have in Rev. 14:4?
7.
Does Rev. 14:4 These were purchased from (apo away from, or out of) among men stand in opposition to resurgent universalism (i.e., that everyone is going to be saved)? Does this phrase show that some men are not redeemed and why they are not?
8.
What is the moral character of those purchased according to Rev. 14:5?
The Vision of The 144,000 on Mount Zion
Chapter Rev. 14:1-5 (Cf. Rev. 7:1-8)
Rev. 14:1
John has now discussed the dragon, the beast of the sea, and the beast of the land or the false prophet. This diabolical trinity (John mentions it again in Rev. 16:3) is placed in the most radical tension with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
The final sign in this series of scenes from the divine drama of redemption is the re-entry of the 144,000 (note that this would have been a large number to the 1st century church) discussed in chapter Rev. 7:4 f. They are with the Lamb, with His seal (His name) on their foreheads. They are standing victoriously on Mt. Zion, the city of the great king. The king and His redeemed stand in an absolute contradiction to the beast and his fellow purveyors of darkness.
Rev. 14:2
John now gives us a poetic description of the voice which he heard. The voice John heard was to give a preview of hope! How could the first century Christians continue to hope for ultimate and final victory when the dragon and his cohorts had overcome the saints? The voice was sweet and harmonious like harpers harping.
Rev. 14:3
This majestic cast of the purchased ones were neither in despair nor despondent over the apparent victory of satandom. Quite the contrary, they sing a new song. Only when ones heart is filled with the joys of salvation can one know the thrill of true spiritual singing. They were singing this song of praise in the very throne room of the universe. What is essential to ones life, before one can sing like this? John states that no man could (edunat no man is able or can learn it) learn the song except the 144,000, the ones having been purchased from (apo away from) the earth. Who are those having been purchased ones (gorasmenoi passive past participle)? John identifies them as those who were not defiled with women; for they are virgins or celibates. There is certainly no condemnation of marriage in this verse (read Mat. 19:12, 1Co. 7:1-8, Heb. 13:4). The image of the virgin (parthenoi) is a symbol of purity. The Bible uses adultery (see book of Hosea) as a symbol of a lack of purity. Chastity is a mark of every true follower of Christ!
This great throng was the first fruit to God and to the Lamb. The firstfruit (aparch) is a consecrated offering in both O.T. usage, and here. This is precisely what Paul asserts in The Epistle to The Romans, Rom. 12:1. The Hebrew Epistle makes a like claim in Heb. 13:4-5. Their spiritual purity was made manifest by the fact that in their mouth was not found a lie (pseudos anything false); they are unblemished. (See Joh. 8:44 the father of lies. Lying became one of the chief temptations of Christians during periods of persecution. See Josephus, the Fathers, especially Cyprian and the problem of the lapsed).
Many strive in vain to identify this throne (especially The Jehovahs Witnesses). In Rev. 7:1-8 it is made plain that if taken literally, these are all physical Jews from tribes of Israel. Nothing is stated there that this group is solely composed of men. But in chp. 14 the group is specifically identified as males who are undefiled with women. There is nothing but difficulties in the path of anyone who claims that he can identify with certainty this group other than the fact that they are the redeemed. Roman Catholic theologians cannot make out their case for celibacy from this passage either, contrary to their claims. Study the biblical teaching about marriage and divorce, and note the biblical use of the symbol of adultery for impurity.
Discussion Questions
See Rev. 14:14-20.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
Tomlinsons Comments
CHAPTER XIV
PARENTHETICAL VISION OF THE TIME
OF THE END
Text (Rev. 14:1-20)
1 And I saw, and behold, the Lamb standing on the mount Zion, and with him a hundred and forty and four thousand, having his name, and the name of his Father, written on their foreheads. 2 And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and the voice which I heard was as the voice of harpers harping with their harps: 3 and they sing as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four living creatures and the elders: and no man could learn the song save the hundred and forty and four thousand, even they that had been purchased out of the earth. 4 These arc they that were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they that follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were purchased from among men, to be the firstfruits unto God and unto the Lamb. 5 And in their mouth was found no lie: they are without blemish.
6 And I saw another angel flying in mid heaven, having eternal good tidings to proclaim unto them that dwell on the earth, and unto every nation and tribe and tongue and people; 7 and he saith with a great voice, Fear God, and give him glory; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made the heaven and the earth and sea and fountains of waters.
8 And another, a second angel, followed, saying, Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, that hath made all the nations to drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
9 And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a great voice. If any man worshippeth the beast and his image, and receiveth a mark on his forehead, or upon his hand, 10 he also shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is prepared unmixed in the cup of his anger; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: 11 and the smoke of their torment goeth up for ever and ever; and they have no rest day and night, they that worship the beast and his image, and whoso receiveth the mark of his name. 12 Here is the patience of the saints, they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.
13 And I heard a voice from heaven saying, Write, Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth: yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; for their works follow with them.
14 And I saw, and behold, a white cloud; and on the cloud I saw, one sitting like unto a son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. 15 And another angel came out from the temple, crying with a great voice to him that sat on the cloud, Send forth thy sickle, and reap: for the hour to reap is come; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. 16 And he that sat on the cloud cast his sickle upon the earth; and the earth was reaped.
17 And another angel came out from the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. 18 And another angel came out from the altar, he that hath power over fire; and he called with a great voice to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Send forth thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe. 19 And the angel cast his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vintage of the earth, and cast it into the winepress, the great winepress, of the wrath of God. 20 And the winepress was trodden without the city, and there came out blood from the winepress, even unto the bridles of the horses, as far as a thousand and six hundred furlongs.
The Vision of the Harvest
In the thirteenth chapter we studied about the two beasts, namely political and papal Rome. These two agencies were given power for a period of 1260 years to wage war upon the Church of Christ. The weapons used were both temporal and spiritual. The arm of the state and the false, deceitful and miraculous powers of the apostate church worked together as one.
It was a dark picture, well designed to plant fear and despair in the hearts of true Christians.
Therefore, a parenthesis of encouragement is inserted at this point to strengthen the saints. A like parenthesis of consolation was inserted between the sixth and seventh seals and the sixth and seventh trumpets. This present parenthesis, the third one, resembles the first parenthesis in character, but harmonizes and coincides with the second in point of time.
So here we witness the history of the two beasts being interrupted at the end of the thirteenth chapter, to be resumed and completed in future visions incorporated in the 15th, 16th, 17th 18th and 19th chapters.
By this definite harmony with the parenthesis between the sixth and seventh trumpets, we are able to get a bench mark reading of our location in respect of time.
Taking a perspective view of the whole chapter, it portrays to us a culmination of all things ending with the judgment. The chapter stands related to the days between the sixth and seventh trumpet in the same manner as the sealing of the 144,000 in the seventh chapter is related to the encouragement of the saints before the seventh seal.
Briefly, this chapter, first, gives encouragement to the saints, reveals a glorious revival of gospel preaching, announces the fall of Babylon, gives a warning against worshipping the beast, then hurdles time and presents the coming of the Son of Man, sitting upon the clouds of heaven and finally describes two reapings in the harvest of the earth, one of the elect and the other of the wicked. Shall we now proceed to a more detailed study of this Chapter:
Rev. 14:1-5 And I looked, and lo, a Lamb stood on the Mount Zion and with him an hundred forty and four thousand having His fathers name written in their foreheads.
And I heard a voice from heaven as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps.
And they sing as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts and the elders, and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand which were redeemed from the earth.
These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the first fruits unto God, and to the Lamb.
And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.
What a vivid contrast is this scene to the one of the terrible beasts of the last chapter! Mount Sion is a symbol of the church. Paul said:
We are come unto Mount Sion, and unto the City of the Living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, and to the general assembly and church of the first born. (Heb. 12:22-23)
And Peter declares Christ to be the chief corner stone in Sion:
Wherefore also it is contained in the Scriptures, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on Him shall not be confounded. (1Pe. 2:6)
So Sion is a symbol of the true church. And these, whom John saw, had His Fathers name upon their foreheads, in contrast to those of the thirteenth chapter, who had the mark of the beast on their foreheads.
This vision, vouchsafed to John, lifts the veil so that the redeemed may see what they could not see with physical eyes.
John heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters. This voice though tremendous, nevertheless, melodiously blends with the singing of the 144,000 redeemed saints. And all sung to the accompaniment of instrumental musicharpers harping with their harps.
This scene reminds us of the great Oratorio of Redemption, sung by the solo voices, the four living creatures the four and twenty elders, the myriads of angels and the redeemed of every kindred, and tongue and people and nation, which is described in the fifth chapter of Revelation.
The 144,000 doubtless is symbolical and not intended to represent an exact number. They are the first fruits to God and the Lamb. As, in the Old Testament economy, the first fruits devoted to God were representative of the whole harvest to follow, so these seem to stand forth as symbolical of the whole harvest of souls to follow.
A description of these who were redeemed from among men, follows:
First, they are described as those which were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. All obedient believers are classed as virgins and are presented to the Lamb of God as such. Said Paul: For I am jealous over you with godly jealously: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. (2Co. 11:2)
Second, they follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. They are sheep that hear and heed the Shepherds voice. Christ, in the days of His flesh, said, My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. (Joh. 10:27)
Third, they are described as the first fruits unto God and to the Lamb.
They were, as James said of those God had begotten with the word of truth: Of His own will begat he us with the word of truth that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. (Jas. 1:18)
In the dispensation of the Mosaic law, the firstfruits were that which was set apart as Gods portion of the productivity of the earth. So in the dispensation of the gospel these 144,000 are Gods portion from the hosts of men. And are representative of the whole harvest.
Fourth, they are described as those in whose mouths was found no guile, for they are without fault before God.
In contrast to the beast whose mouth spoke great things and was full of blasphemies, the mouths of the saints were without guile, for they spoke the truth. And being baptized in Christ, wherein they came under the blood of Christ, they were made faultless.
They had put on the righteousness of Christ as Paul declared, But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. (1Co. 1:30)
And in his righteousness, we are to be presented faultless before the presence of God.
And now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power both now and forever. Amen. (Jud. 1:24-25)
The next scene logically follows, for as the first fruits were rendered faultless before God by the truth of Gods word, all the remaining harvest of souls must also hear the one, simple, and only gospel of Christ. Hence, there follows a scene in which the fervent, missionary church proclaims the glorious and everlasting gospel of Christ.
Rev. 14:6-7 And I saw another angel in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.
There is a startling similarity between the angelology of the three interludes, or parentheses.
In the first parenthesis between the sixth and seventh seals an angel with a loud voice speaks: And I saw another angel having the seal of God, and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels. (Rev. 7:2)
Again in the second parenthesis, between the sixth and seventh trumpets, we read: And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven clothed with a cloud. (Rev. 10:1)
In the first, second, and third parenthesis these angels are different from the other angels mentioned in their respective settings.
Here in this chapter six other angels are mentioned. Four messages and two commands concerning the harvest are given by these six angels.
The First Angel and His Message. This angel is seen flying in the midst of heaven. He has the everlasting gospel. It is the same gospel that Paul preached and of which the apostle said, But though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you let him be accursed. (Gal. 1:18)
So this is an eternal or unchangeable gospel which was to be preached unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue and people.
Christ said, The field is the world. So this angel flying speaks celerity, and since an angel excels in strength, this symbolism portrays a season of vigorous and rapid evangelism of all the world.
This angel flies rapidly across the heavens with the Blessed Message, the old Jerusalem gospel-the gospel of Pentecost, Caesarea Philippi and other New Testament places.
Here the revived church, full of zeal, with a sublime missionary spirit goes everywhere preaching the word.
That definitely identifies the point of time of this vision. After the Little book was given, world-wide evangelism began.
That this movement will be world-wide is made clear in that the angel addresses all races.
The message is a call to fear God (rather than papal power). And to give God glory and worship Him, because the hour of his judgment is come. This brings us to the message of the second angel.
The Second Angel and His Message.
Rev. 14:8 And there followed another angel saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
The message of this angel is closely linked with the first angel and his message. In the closing statement of the first angels message the hour of Gods judgment was announced, and in this second angels message the proclamation is made Babylon is fallen, is fallen.
Doubtless Babylon is used here, because the Babylon of antiquity with all its vileness, as well as grandeur, was a type of the great Babylon of the Apocalypse.
John could not have referred to the ancient city of Babylon of the Old Testament, for it fell centuries before John wrote. It has never been rebuilt, even to this day. John then refers to some great city or power, unseen while John lived on Patmos, but would be revealed in due process of time.
Perhaps a careful consideration of that ancient Babylona type of this future Babylonwill help us in the latters identity.
First: Before the erection of ancient Babylon all men were of one language and one family. On this site occurred the confusion of tongues and the dividing of the nations. The name Babylon, itself, means, confusion, derived from babel. We still speak of a polyglot of noises as a babel of confusion.
Second: This old Babylon lead the old Israel of God into captivity and destroyed their temple in Jerusalem.
Third: It was the first great universal empire, as described in Daniel.
As this was a type, the New Testament Babylon must correspond.
Before the beasts, political and Papal Rome, jointly ruled on the seven-Palatine Hills, the church spoke the same language, taking the Bible, or the Little Book for all authority. They spoke where the Bible spoke and were silent where it was silent.
There was unity of belief and practice. But with the coming of the apostate church to power, human decrees, dogmas, papal pronouncements and findings of church councils were substituted for the one Biblical language, and confusion resulted.
Satan was back of the rearing of the first tower of Babel, as, likewise, he was the one who spoke through political and papal Rome, as a spiritual tower of Babel was raised.
The new Babylon lead the world into spiritual captivity. In the preceding chapter, Rev. 14:10, we have a parallel prophesy of the fall of this spiritual Babylon: He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword.
As the Babylon on the Euphrates was a powerful and universal Empire, so did the spiritual and political Babylon on the Tiber, hold universal sway over, both the bodies and souls of men.
The ancient, literal Babylon was the subject of prophesy concerning drunkenness, to be followed by a prediction of her downfall. Babylon hath been made a golden cup in the Lords hand, that made all the earth drunken: The nations have drunken of her wine; wherefore the nations are mad. (Jer. 51:7)
The comes the prophesy of her downfall: Babylon is suddenly fallen, and destroyed. (Jer. 51:8)
Just so antitypical, or spiritual Babylon is to come to a sudden end.
The literal Babylon of the Old Testament made the nations drunk in a physical way; the spiritual Babylon makes the nations drunk of the wine of spiritual fornication, or unchasteness toward Christ.
As a man drunken with spirits, has an addled, or confused brain, mentally, so a man drunk with evil spirits, also has a spiritually addled mind, confused by false doctrine and practice.
The announcement is made by anticipation as on the eve of the accomplishment. Just as Joseph said to Pharaoh: And for that the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh twice; it is because the thing is established, and God will shortly bring to it pass, (Gen. 41:32) so the pronouncement of Babylons doom is doubled, Babylon is fallen, is fallen. In another vision of the same event the repetition of the announcement is also given double: (Rev. 18:2): And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great, is fallen, is fallen.
What assurance is given the saints that this unholy institution, hoary with age will surely fall! This truly is the patience (or reward) of the saints. The Third Angel and His Message.
Just as the second angels message (that of the destruction of Babylon) was linked with the message of the first angel (that the hour of judgment is come), so the message of this third angel is linked with that of the second one.
This third angel declares that those who drink of the wine of the wrath of Babylons fornication shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God. We read:
Rev. 14:9-11 And the third angel followed them, saying, 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: and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
The first thing to which we would call attention is the associating of Babylon with the beast and the image of the beast, and, the receiving the mark of the beast in the forehead and upon the hand and having the mark of his name. This proves beyond the least shadow of a doubt that Babylon and the beast and its image are one and the same institutions. Therefore, a declaration that Babylon is fallen, is fallen is an assurance to the true Church of Christ that both political and papal Rome, with its imagethe Roman Catholic Church, will fall. And when it comes it will be very sudden. When the fullness of Gods wrath has come, that apostate church will fall with a suddenness that will shock the whole world.
The awful punishment which will befall those who worship the beast and his image, and have his mark in the forehead, or in his hand, will be two-fold:
First; They shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God and it will be without mixturenot diluted, or mixed with mercy, hope or love. The cup of Gods indignation not only will be full, but full of unadulterated divine wrath.
Second: They are to be tormented forever and ever. There are many today who laugh at and jeer at the idea of an everlasting hell of punishment for the wicked. Many verbal thrusts are made at the preachers of fire and brimstone. But none other than a great and mighty angel from heaven proclaimed this fact, and with a loud voice. Whose word shall we believe and accept before it is eternally too lateGods angel, or mans wishful thinking and human opinion?
Rev. 14:12-13 Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God.
This is the reward of the saints, that they shall be spared such a fate. And who are the saints? Those that keep the commandments of God.
The devotees of papal pronouncements and denomination mimickings, will find their worship vain. This makes no difference whether a papal power commands other than the scriptural requirements, or whether it be a denominational bishop or preacher who teaches the doctrines of men, namely doctrines without divine authority. Did not Christ say: But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men? (Mat. 15:9)
In Gods sight there is no difference between a Roman priest sprinkling a person on the forehead, and a protestant preacher doing the same act. Both are teaching doctrines of men and putting the same into obedient practice.
Again there comes ringing the challenge of Christ: And why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? (Luk. 6:46) Rev. 14:13, 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 labors: and their works do follow them.
When a matter of great and outstanding importance is to be considered we meet with the word write. With the exception of John being forbidden to write what the voices of the seven thunders uttered, we do not run across this word since the time John was told to write the messages to the seven churches. The same is true of the mention of the Spirit speaking. Not since the admonitions of the Spirit to the seven churches, Let him that hath an ear hear what the Spirit saith to the churches, does the Spirit speak until this present verse under consideration and he does not speak again until Rev. 22:17. Here then is the comfort of the saints and the Spirit confirms it.
So John is commanded to write. because a matter of great importance is the subject matter. Since this time roughly corresponds to the period of the Reformation and, subsequent Restoration, the saints would be those who had heard and believed the Little Book, and having obeyed the commands of entrance, and faithful continuance in the Kingdom of Gods dear Son, were in the Lord.
There is an infinite difference between those who die in the Lord and those who die in their sins. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. (Rom. 8:1) Again: The Lord shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first. (1Th. 4:16)
But to die out of Christ, with the Little Book printed and published throughout the worldand not to have obeyed its commands, to get into and remain in Christwill be eternally tragic. Of such Jesus said, Ye shall die in your sins. (Joh. 8:21)
Henceforth is a precious word. Having scripturally become a Christian, death offers blessedness. For me to die is gain. (Php. 1:21)
Those from henceforth do rest from their labors. The realm of departed spirits is not some sort of purgatory where labors on both sides of the veil must be entered into in order to complete salvation, but the Spirit, after a long silencesince the first chapter, speaks up to say, that they may rest from their labors.
How timely this message after the long Thyatira period of Catholicism! In this period arose, and flowered to fullness, the diabolical dogma that the departed must reside in Purgatory and are only released through much labor and purchasing of many masses to secure rest for them. If such a dogma is true, how would one on this side of the veil know when sufficient masses had been said to complete the transaction? No, the Scripture declares plainly that they are already at rest.
The words, Their works do follow them, promises a reward awaiting the saints there for their works done here. Paul said: For as much as ye know that your labor is not vain in the Lord. (1Co. 15:58)
The character the true saint acquired, the influence for truth exerted, the results of transformed souls attainedall follow him into the presence of Christ.
The Vision of the Harvest
Proclamation has now gone forth that the hour of judgment has come, that Babylon has fallen, that the damnation of beast-marked worshippers is at hand, that the dead in Christ rest in their labors. We now are given a vision of the reaping of the harvest. First, the righteous are reaped, followed by the reaping of the grapes of wrath.
Rev. 14:14-16 And I looked and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud. Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for Thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. And he that sat on the cloud thrust in His sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped.
A work of separation takes place between the sixth and seventh trumpet. (Rev. 11:1-2). Here, in Rev. 14:14-16 the separation of the good and bad again appears prominently.
The Son of man, as seen in this vision, has a golden crown on his head, showing that he comes back as a King.
John said, I saw, and behold a white cloud. The cloud is a signal of the second advent of the Lord Jesus Christ. When He ascended, A cloud received him out of their sight; and at the same time two men stood by the apostles and said, This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. (Act. 1:10-11)
The cloud took him up and the cloud will bring Him back. Luke said, They shall see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and with great glory. (Luk. 21:27)
Let the Master, himself, clarify this dual harvest. In Mat. 13:24-30, he speaks a parable concerning the sowing of the good seed of the Kingdom and the harvest thereof:
Another parable put He forth unto them, saying, The Kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field.
Then he proceeds to show what this Kingdom is to be like, down to the time of the harvest. It was to be a mixture of tares and wheat together. He, seed of the woman, Himself, the Christ sows good seedthe children of the Kingdom; the tares are sowed by the devil and are the children of the wicked one.
When his disciples asked for the interpretation, He thus explained the good and bad seed and then proceeds to explain how the wheat and the tares will be separated at the time of the harvest. The description coincides in the finest way and parallels the order of gathering the harvest as portrayed in the fourteenth chapter of Revelation. Hear him: The harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world.
The Son of man, (same title as found in Rev. 14:14) shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his Kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. (Mat. 13:39-42).
In (Mar. 4:26-29) he said:
And he said, so is the Kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground, and should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how, for the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle because the harvest is come.
So we see the evil has its harvest as well as the good.
The setting of Christ on the cloud was to inaugurate the harvest and to this end, this gold-crowned King holds in his hand a sharp sickle.
Seeing Him with this harvest-sickle in his hand caused another angel to cry with a loud voice: Thrust in thy sickle, and reap for the time is come for thee to reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe. This is another angel, other than to those mentioned in Rev. 14:6; Rev. 14:8-9. Even the angel seems to cry out for speedy vengeance.
And He that sat on the cloud thrust in His sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped. What awesome words! What an experience in the wind up human affairs, and with what brevity! Nothing but inspiration could have confined itself to such narrow limits of recording an event, a mere human being would have required volumes to relate.
But this is only one phase of the reaping. After the grain harvest comes the grape harvest. So we read: Rev. 14:17, And another angel (this is the fifth thus far mentioned) came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also had a sharp sickle.
Whereas the angel in Rev. 14:15, (the fourth angel mentioned in this chapter) came from the templenot the temple which is in heaven, but evidently the spiritual temple as made up of those who keep his commandments, this angel in the 17th verse came out of the temple which is in heaven. This angel comes from the holy place not made with hands. It is in this heavenly temple that Christ is now appearing in the presence of God for us as our great High Priest. And it is from that temple He is to come when He returns the second time.
Rev. 14:17 Again we come to a parallel. Just as when Christ was seen coming on a cloud with a sickle in His hand (Rev. 14:14), and the fourth angel in (Rev. 14:15) cried with a loud voice, Thrust in thy sickle, so here, as the fifth angel in Rev. 14:17, came out of the temple which is in heaven, having a sharp sickle in his hand, another angel, the sixth introduced in this chapter, came out from the altar and also cried with a loud voice saying, Thrust in thy sickle. Shall we read the account:
Rev. 14:18 And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in they sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe.
This last angel, one who has power over fire, comes forth from the altar where the fire was kept burning, or the altar of burnt offering.
Fire is an emblem of judgment and punishment.
John, the Immerser, referred to this scene when he said, I indeed baptize you in water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, he shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. (Mat. 3:11). The fire here refers to the final judgment, and John continues to so apply it: Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.
This angel of the altar-fires is so outraged by the awful vintage of the wickedness of the earth that he cries with a loud voice for the angel to thrust in his sickle.
Rev. 14:19 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.
Here we observe that the vine of the earth is set over against the vine of heaven. The true vine is Christ and Christians are the branches, as Christ himself declared: I am the true vine, (Joh. 15:1) Ye are the branches. (Joh. 15:5)
The grapes of the vine of the earth are the fully matured children of the wicked one, They are fully ripe.
Into this mass of vines of the earth the sickle was thrust. The vine of the earth is cast into the great winepress of the wrath of God. The judgment is final and complete.
Rev. 14:20 And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horses bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.
The winepress is said to be trodden without the city. First, this would mean that it was without the church, for in the apocalypse, the city, unless a wicked city is under consideration, refers to that institution. And, second, it would mean the Holy City of the future. There will be nothing unclean or defiling in that city. Speaking of that future city, John said, For without are dogs etc. (Rev. 22:15)
And who will do this treading of the wine press without the city? None other than an outraged Christ himself. In a definite prophesy of the Christ, Isaiah said:
I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me; for I will tread them in my anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments. For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come. (Isa. 63:3-4).
And what a horrible flow of blood follows! From the trodden vintage there flows a stream of such magnitude that it rose to the horses bridles to the distance of 1600 stadia, or furlongs. What an appalling result!
Since this is a symbol in a book which is, of all the books of the Bible, preeminently symbolic, this doubtless symbolizes the terrible final destruction of the hosts of wickedness. A symbol of a river of human blood, one hundred and sixty miles in length, to the depths of the horses mouths, tells the tragic story.
The very mention of horses bridles here causes our minds to leap forward to the nineteenth chapter where Christ is pictured mounted upon a white horse, followed by the armies of heaven, also mounted on horses. (Rev. 19:11-16)
The whole seems to be symbolic of the awful carnage in the punishment of the wicked in that day. The figures 40 times 40 equals 1600, or 4 times 4 multiplied by 10 times 10 is a symbol of the completeness of the final judgment.
Four seems to be the apocalyptic symbol of the earth as there are said to be four corners, four winds, or four directions and four quarters of the earth. The earth 4 times 4 times 100 implies the completeness of the Divine Judgment.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
THE CITADEL OF THE SAINTS AND THE SERVANTS OF THE LAMB.
(1) And I looked . . .Better, And I saw, and behold, the Lamb (not a Lamb: it is the Lamb, the true Lamb of God, against whom the wild beast wages savage and subtle war) standing on the Mount Sion. The Saviour, the Lamb, in whose blood the saints have found their victory, is seen standing on the citadel of the heavenly city. Babylon is to be introduced (Rev. 14:8). In contrast, Zion, the chosen abode of God (Psa. 132:13-18), the type of the spiritual city whose citizens are true to the King (comp. Psa. 2:6; Psa. 74:2; Heb. 12:22-24), is introduced. There are to be seen the Lamb, set as King upon the holy hill of Zion, and with Him the sealed ones, His faithful soldiers and servants. They are described as 144,000 in number: a number which represents the full growth of the choice ones of God, the true Israel of God. (See Note on Rev. 7:4.) These have their Fathers name on their foreheads: they can be recognised as children of God, (Comp. Note on Rev. 7:2-3, and Rev. 22:4.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Chapter 14
THE FATHER’S OWN ( Rev 14:1 ) 14:1 I saw, and behold the Lamb stood on Mount Sion, and there were with him one hundred and forty-four thousand who had his name, and the name of his Father written on their foreheads.
John’s next vision opens with the Lamb standing in triumph on Mount Sion and with him the one hundred and forty-four thousand of whom we read in Rev 7:1-17. They are marked with his name and with the name of his Father on their foreheads. We have already thought about the meaning of the marking but we must look at it again. In the ancient world a mark upon a person could stand for at least five different things.
(i) It could stand for ownership. Often the slave was branded with his owner’s mark, as sheep and cattle are branded. The company with the Lamb belong to God.
(ii) It could stand for loyalty. The soldier would sometimes brand his hand with the name of the general whom he loved and would follow into any battle. The company of the Lamb are the veterans who have proved their loyalty.
(iii) It could stand for security. There is a curious third or fourth century papyrus letter from a son to his father Apollo. Times are dangerous, and the son and the father are separated. The son sends his greetings and good wishes, and then goes on: “I have indeed told you before of my grief at your absence from among us, and my fear that something dreadful might happen to you, and that we may not find your body. Indeed, I often wished to tell you that, having regard to the insecurity, I wanted to stamp a mark upon you” (P. Oxy. 680). The son wished to put a mark upon his father’s body in order to keep it safe. The company of the Lamb are those marked for security in life and in death.
(iv) It could stand for dependence. Robertson Smith quotes a curious example of this. The great Arab chieftains had their humble clients who were absolutely dependent on them. Often the sheik would brand them with the same mark as he used to brand his camels to show that they were dependent on him. The company of the Lamb are those who are utterly dependent on his love and grace.
(v) It could stand for safety. It was common for those who were the devotees of a god to be stamped with his sign. Sometimes that worked very cruelly. Plutarch tells us that after the disastrous defeat of the Athenians under Nicias in Sicily, the Sicilians took the captives and branded them on the forehead with a galloping horse, the emblem of Sicily (Plutarch: Nicias 29). 3 Maccabees tells us that Ptolemy the Fourth of Egypt ordered that “all Jews should be degraded to the lowest rank and to the condition of slaves; and that those who spoke against it should be taken by force and put to death; and that these when they were registered should be marked with a brand on their bodies, with the ivy leaf, the emblem of Bacchus” (3Maccabees 2:28, 293Maccabees 29).
These instances involve degradation and cruelty. But there were others. The Syrians were regularly tattooed on the wrist or the neck with the mark of their god. But there is a more relevant instance than any of these. Herodotus (2: 113) tells us that there was a temple of Heracles at the Canopic mouth of the Nile which possessed the right of asylum. Any criminal, slave or free man, was safe there from pursuing vengeance. When such a fugitive reached that temple, he was branded with certain sacred marks in token that he had delivered himself to the god and that none could touch him any more. They were the marks of absolute security. The company of the Lamb are those who have cast themselves on the mercy of God in Jesus Christ and are for ever safe.
THE SONG WHICH ONLY GOD’S OWN CAN LEARN ( Rev 14:2-3 ) 14:2-3 And I heard a voice from heaven like the sound of many waters and like the voice of great thunder, and the voice I heard was like the sound of harpers playing on their harps. And they were singing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders, and no one was able to learn the song except the one hundred and forty-four thousand who had been purchased for God from the earth.
This passage begins with a wonderful description of the voice of God.
(i) It was like the sound of many waters. Here we are reminded of the power of the voice of God, for there is no power like the crash of the mountainous waves upon the beaches and the cliffs.
(ii) It was like the voice of great thunder. Here we are reminded of the unmistakableness of the voice of God. No one can fail to hear the thunder-clap.
(iii) It was like the sound of many harpers playing on their harps. Here we are reminded of the melody of the voice of God. There is in that voice the gentle graciousness of sweet music to calm the troubled heart.
The Lamb’s company were singing a song which only they could learn. Here there is a truth which runs through all life. To learn certain things a man must be a certain kind of person. The Lamb’s company were able to learn the new song because they had passed through certain experiences.
(a) They had suffered. There are certain things which only sorrow can teach. As someone made the poets say: “We learned in suffering what we teach in song.” Sorrow can produce resentment but it can also produce faith and peace and a new song.
(b) They had lived in loyalty. It is clear that, as the years pass on, the leader will draw closer to his loyal followers and they to him; then he will be able to teach them things the unfaithful or spasmodic follower can never learn.
(c) That is another way of saying that the company of the Lamb had made steady progress in spiritual growth. A teacher can teach deeper things to a mature student than to an immature beginner. And Jesus Christ can reveal more treasures of wisdom to those who day by day grow up into him. The tragedy of so many is static Christianity.
THE FINEST FLOWER ( Rev 14:4 a) 14:4a These are they who have not defiled themselves with women, for they are virgins.
We take this half verse by itself, for it is one of the most difficult sayings in the whole of the Revelation, and it is of the utmost importance to get its meaning clear. It describes the unsullied purity of those who are in the company of the Lamb, but in what does that purity consist?
(i) Does it describe those who in sexual relationships have been pure? That can hardly be the case, for the people in question are described, not simply as pure, but as virgins, that is, as those who have never known sexual relations at all.
(ii) Does it describe those who have kept themselves free from spiritual adultery, that is, from all disloyalty to Jesus Christ? Again and again in the Old Testament we find it said of the people of Israel that they went awhoring after strange gods ( Exo 34:15; Deu 31:16; Jdg 2:17; Jdg 8:27; Jdg 8:33; Hos 9:1). But this passage does not read as if it was metaphorical.
(iii) Does it describe those who have remained celibate? The days soon came when the Church glorified virginity and held that the highest Christian life was possible only for those who renounced marriage altogether. The Gnostics held that “marriage and generation are from Satan.” Tatian held that “marriage is corruption and fornication.” Marcion set up churches for those who were celibates and from which all others were barred. One of the greatest of the early fathers, Origen, voluntarily castrated himself to ensure perpetual virginity. In the Acts of Paul and Thecla (11) it is the charge of Demas against Paul that “he deprives young men of wives and maidens of husbands by saying that in no other way shall there be a resurrection for you save by remaining chaste and keeping the flesh chaste.” There is a record of a Roman trial (Ruinart: Acts of the Martyrs, 27th April, 304) in which the Christians are described as “the people who impose upon silly women and tell them that they must not marry and persuade them to adopt a fanciful chastity.” This is precisely the spirit which was to beget the monasteries and the convents, and the implication that everything to do with sex and the body is wrong.
This is far from the teaching of the New Testament. Jesus glorified marriage, saying that for this cause a man left his own family and was so closely united to his wife that they were one flesh, and warning that what God has joined no man may put asunder ( Mat 19:4-6). In his highest teaching Paul glorified marriage, likening the relationship of Christ to his Church to the relationship between man and wife ( Eph 5:22-33). The writer to the Hebrews lays it down: “Let marriage be held in honour among all” ( Heb 13:4).
What, then, are we to say of our present passage? If we are to treat it honestly, we cannot avoid the conclusion that it praises celibacy and virginity and belittles marriage. There are two possible explanations.
(a) It is possible that the writer of the Revelation did mean to exalt celibacy and virginity; the likelihood is that he was writing about A.D. 90 when this tendency was already in the Church. If that is so we will have to lay this passage on one side, because, tested by the rest of the New Testament, it is not a correct statement of the Christian ethic.
(b) There is another possible interpretation. When scribes were copying New Testament books they often added notes and comments in the margin, to explain the text. It may well be that some scribe in later days, copying this passage wished to give his opinion as to who the one hundred and forty thousand were; and added in the margin: “This means those who never defiled themselves with women and who remained virgins.” This is all the more likely since many of the later scribes were monks. When the manuscript was recopied, the comment in the margin may well have been included in the text as very commonly happened. This would then mean that the first half of Rev 14:4 is not the words of John at all but the comment of a scribe.
THE IMITATION OF CHRIST ( Rev 14:4 b-5) 14:4b-5 These are they who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were bought from amongst men, a sacrifice to God and to the Lamb, and no falsehood was found in their mouth, for they are without blemish.
The company of the Lamb are those who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. The simplest definition of a Christian is simply one who follows Jesus Christ. “Follow me!” Jesus said to Philip ( Joh 1:43), and to Matthew ( Mar 2:14). “Follow me!” he said to the rich young ruler ( Mar 10:21), and to the unnamed disciple ( Luk 9:59). When Peter asked what was to happen to John, Jesus told him not to bother about what would happen to others but to concentrate on following him ( Joh 21:19-22). He left us an example, said Peter, that we should follow in his steps ( 1Pe 2:21).
John calls the company of the Lamb three things:
(i) They are a sacrifice to God and to the Lamb. The word for sacrifice is aparche ( G536) . This really means the sacrifice of the first-fruits. The first-fruits were the best of the crop; they were a symbol of the harvest to come; and they were a symbolic dedication of the whole harvest to God. So the Christian is the best that can be offered to God; each Christian is a foretaste of the time when all the world will be dedicated to God; and the Christian is the man who has consecrated his life to God.
(ii) No falsehood was found in their mouth. This is a favourite thought in Scripture. “Blessed is the man,” says the Psalmist, “in whose spirit there is no deceit” ( Psa 32:2). Isaiah said of the servant of the Lord: “And there was no deceit in his mouth” ( Isa 53:9). Zephaniah said of the chosen remnant of the people: “Nor shall there be found in their mouth a deceitful tongue” ( Zep 3:13). Peter took the words about the servant and applied them to Jesus: “No guile was found on his lips” ( 1Pe 2:22). There is something here which we can well understand. Just as we desire friends who are sincere, so does Jesus Christ.
(iii) They are without blemish. The word is amomos ( G299) and is characteristically a sacrificial word. It describes the animal which is without flaw and so fit for an offering to God. It is interesting to note how often this word is used of the Christian. God has chosen us that we should be holy and without blame before him ( Eph 1:4; compare Col 1:22). The Church must be glorious, not having spot, or wrinkle or any such thing ( Eph 5:27). Peter speaks of Jesus as a Lamb without blemish and without spot ( 1Pe 1:19). We received life to make of it a sacrifice to God; and that which is offered to God must be without blemish.
There follows the vision of the three angels, the angel with the summons to worship the true God ( Rev 14:6-7), the angel who foretells the doom of Rome ( Rev 14:8), and the angel who foretells the judgment and destruction of those who have denied their faith and worshipped the beast ( Rev 14:9-12).
THE SUMMONS TO THE WORSHIP OF GOD ( Rev 14:6-7 ) 14:6-7 And I saw another angel flying in the midst of the sky with an everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell upon the earth and to every race and tribe and tongue and people. And he was saying with a great voice: “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come, and worship him who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and the springs of waters.”
One of the signs which were to precede the end was that the gospel would be preached in all the world for a witness to all nations ( Mat 24:14). Here is the fulfilment of that prophecy. The angel comes with the message of the gospel to all races and tribes and tongues and peoples.
The angel comes with an everlasting gospel. Everlasting could mean that the gospel is eternally valid, that even in a world which is crashing to its doom its truth still stands. It could mean that the gospel has existed from all eternity. Paul in the great doxology in Romans speaks of Jesus Christ as the revelation of the mystery which was kept secret since the world began ( Rom 16:25). It could mean that the gospel is the eternal purpose of God for man. It could mean that it deals with the eternal things.
It may seem strange that the angel with the gospel is followed immediately by the angels of doom. But the gospel has of necessity a double-edged quality. It is good news for those who receive it but it is judgment to those who reject it. And the condemnation of those who reject it is all the greater because they were given the chance to accept it.
The words of the angel are interesting. They are a summons to worship the God who is the Creator of all things. This message is not specifically Christian but the basis of all religion. It corresponds exactly to the message which Paul and Barnabas brought to the people of Lystra, when they told them that they must “turn from these vain things to a living God who made the heaven, and the earth, and the sea, and all that is in them” ( Act 14:15). H. B. Swete called this “an appeal to the conscience of untaught heathenism, incapable as yet of apprehending any other.”
THE FALL OF BABYLON ( Rev 14:8 ) 14:8 And another angel, a second angel, followed him saying: “Fallen, fallen is the great Babylon, who made all the nations to drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.”
Here is prophesied the doom of Rome. Throughout the Revelation Rome is described as Babylon, a description which was common between the Testaments. The writer of 2Baruch begins his pronouncement against Rome: “I, Baruch, say this against thee, Babylon” (Baruch 11:1). When the Sibylline Oracles describe the imagined flight of Nero from Rome, they say: “Then shall flee from Babylon a king shameless and fearless, whom all mortals and the best men loathe” (Sibylline Oracles 5: 143). In the ancient days Babylon to the prophets had been the very incarnation of power and lust and luxury and sin; and to the early Jewish Christians Babylon seemed to have been reborn in the lust and luxury and immorality of Rome.
The fall of Babylon to Cyrus the Persian had been one of the shattering events of ancient history. The very words which the Revelation uses are echoes of those in which the ancient prophets had foretold that fall. “Fallen, fallen is Babylon,” said Isaiah, “and all the images of her gods he has shattered to the ground” ( Isa 21:9). “Suddenly Babylon has fallen,” said Jeremiah, “and been broken” ( Jer 51:8).
Babylon is said to have made all the nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. In this phrase two Old Testament conceptions have been fused into one. In Jer 51:7 it is said of Babylon: “Babylon was a golden cup in the Lord’s hand, making all the earth drunken; the nations drank of her wine; therefore, the nations went mad.” The idea is that Babylon had been a corrupting force which had lured the nations into a kind of insane immorality. The background is the picture of a prostitute persuading a man into immorality by filling him full of wine, so that he could no longer resist her wiles. Rome has been like that, like some glittering prostitute seducing the world. The other picture is of the cup of the wrath of God. Job says of the wicked man: “Let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty” ( Job 21:20). The Psalmist speaks of the wicked having to drink the dregs of the red cup in the hand of God ( Psa 75:8). Isaiah speaks of Jerusalem having drunk the cup of God’s fury ( Isa 51:17). God instructs Jeremiah to take the wine cup of his fury and to give it to the nations to drink ( Jer 25:15).
We might paraphrase by saying that Babylon made the nations drink of the wine which seduces men to fornication and which brings as its consequence the wrath of God.
Behind all this remains the eternal truth that the nation or the man whose influence is to evil will not escape the avenging wrath of God.
THE DOOM OF THE MAN WHO DENIES HIS LORD ( Rev 14:9-12 )
14:9-12 And another angel, a third angel, followed them saying with a great voice: “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark upon his forehead or upon his hand, he too shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, mingled undiluted in the cup of his wrath, and he will be tortured with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. The smoke of their torture ascends for ever and ever, and those who worship the beast and his image have no rest by day or night, nor has anyone who receives the mark of his name.
Here is the summons to steadfastness on the part of God’s dedicated ones, who keep the commandments of God and maintain their loyalty to him.
Warning has already been given of the power of the beast and of the mark that the beast will seek to set upon all men ( Rev 13:1-18). Now there is warning to those who fail in that time of trial.
It is significant that this is the fiercest warning of all. Of all dooms, as the Revelation sees it, the doom of the apostate is worst. The reason is that the Church was battling for its very existence. If it was to continue the individual Christian must be prepared to face suffering and trial, imprisonment and death. If the individual Christian yielded, the Church died. In our day the individual Christian is still of paramount importance, but his function now is not usually to protect the faith by being ready to die for it, but to commend it by being diligent to live for it.
The doom of the apostate is thought of in pictures of the most terrible judgment that ever fell on this earth–that of Sodom and Gomorrah. “Lo, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace” ( Gen 19:28). John echoes the words of Isaiah describing the day of the Lord’s vengeance: “And the streams of Edom shall be turned into pitch, and her soil into brimstone; her land shall become burning pitch. Night and day it shall not be quenched; its smoke shall go up for ever. From generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever” ( Isa 34:8-10).
The wicked will be destroyed in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. As we have seen before, part of the blessedness of heaven was to see the suffering of the sinner in hell. As 2 Esdras has it: “There shall be shewn the furnace of hell, and opposite to it the paradise of delight” ( 2Est 7:36). We have the same idea in the Book of Enoch: “I will give them over (the wicked) into the hands of mine elect: as straw in the fire, so shall they burn before the face of the holy: as lead in the water shall they sink before the face of the righteous, and no trace of them shall be found any more” (Enoch 48:9). A feature of the last days will be “the spectacle of righteous judgment in the presence of the righteous” (Enoch 27:2, 3). When Chrysostom was encouraging Olympias to steadfastness, he encouraged her by promising that in due time she would see the divine torture of the persecutors, just as Lazarus saw Dives tormented in flames.
We may dislike this line of thought; we may condemn it as subchristian–and indeed it is. But we have no real right to speak until we have gone through the same sufferings as the early Christians did. Many a time the heathen had looked down from the crowded seats of the arena on the sufferings of the Christians; and the early Christians were sustained by the thought that some day the divine justice of heaven would adjust the balance of earth’s injustices.
THE REST OF THE FAITHFUL SOUL ( Rev 14:13 ) 14:13 And I heard a voice from heaven saying: “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. Yes, says the Spirit, they are blessed, because they rest from their labours, for their deeds follow with them.”
After the terrible prophecies of the terrors to come and the terrible warnings to those who are false, there comes the gracious promise.
Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord–the idea of dying in the Lord occurs more than once in the New Testament. Paul speaks of the dead in Christ ( 1Th 4:16) and of those who have fallen asleep in Christ ( 1Co 15:18). The meaning of all these phrases is those who come to the end still one with Christ. Everything was trying to separate men from Christ; but the supreme happiness was for those who came to the end still inseparable from the Master whom they loved.
The promise is of rest. They will rest from their labours. Rest is never so sweet as after the most strenuous toil. As Spenser had it:
Sleep after toil, port after stormy seas,
Ease after war, death after life does greatly please.
Their works follow with them–at first this sounds as if the Revelation is preaching salvation by works. But we have to be careful what John means by works. He speaks of the works of the Ephesians–their labour and their patience ( Rev 2:2); he speaks of the works of the Thyatirans–their charity and their service and their faith ( Rev 2:19). By works he means character. He is in effect saying: “When you leave this earth, all that you can take with you is yourself. If you come to the end of this life still one with Christ, you will take with you a character tried and tested like gold, which has something of his reflection in it; and, if you take with you to the world beyond a character like that, blessed are you.”
THE HARVEST OF JUDGMENT ( Rev 14:14-20 ) 14:14-20 And I saw and behold a white cloud, and seated on the cloud one like a son of man. On his head he had a victor’s crown of gold, and in his hand he had a sharp sickle. And another angel came forth from the temple, saying with a great voice to him who was seated on the cloud: “Put in your sickle, and begin to reap, because the hour to reap has come, because the harvest of the earth is ripe and more than ripe.” And he who was seated on the cloud put in his sickle upon the earth, and the earth was reaped. And another angel came from the temple which is in heaven and he too had a sharp sickle, and there came forth from the altar another angel, the angel who controls the fire, and he called with a great voice to him who had the sharp sickle saying: “Put in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, because the grapes are ripe.” So the angel put his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vintage of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood came out of the winepress, as high as the horses’ bridles, for sixteen hundred stades.
The final vision of this chapter is of judgment depicted in pictures which were very familiar to Jewish thought.
It begins with the picture of the victorious figure of one like a son of man. This comes from Dan 7:13-14: “And I saw in the night visions, and, behold with the clouds of heaven, there came one like a son of man and he came to the ancient of days, and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and kingdom, that all peoples, nations and languages should serve him.”
This picture goes on to depict judgment in two metaphors familiar to Scripture.
It depicts judgment in terms of harvesting. When Joel wished to say that judgment was near, he said: “Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe” ( Joe 3:13). “When the grain is ripe,” said Jesus, “at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come” ( Mar 4:29); and in the parable of the wheat and the tares he uses the harvest as a picture of judgment ( Mat 13:24-30; Mat 13:37-43).
It depicts judgment in terms of the wine press, which consisted of an upper and a lower trough connected by a channel. The troughs might be hollowed out in the rock or they might be built of brick. The grapes were put into the upper trough which was on a slightly higher level. They were then trampled with the feet and the juice flowed down the connecting channel into the lower trough. Often in the Old Testament, God’s judgment is likened to the trampling of the grapes. “The Lord flouted all my mighty men in the midst of me…the Lord has trodden as in a winepress the virgin daughter of Judah” ( Lam 1:15). “I have trodden the winepress alone; and from the peoples no one was with me; I trod them in my anger, and trampled them in my wrath; their life blood is sprinkled upon my garments” ( Isa 63:3).
Here, then, we have judgment depicted in the two familiar figures of the harvest and of the winepress. To this is added another familiar picture. The wine press is to be trodden outside the city, that is, Jerusalem. Both in the Old Testament and in the books between the Testaments there was a line of thought which held that the Gentiles would be brought to Jerusalem and judged there. Joel has a picture of all the nations gathered into the valley of Jehoshaphat and judged there ( Joe 3:2; Joe 3:12). Zechariah has a picture of a last attack of the Gentiles on Jerusalem and of their judgment there ( Zec 14:1-4).
There are two difficult things in this passage. First, there is the fact that the one like a son of man reaps and also an angel reaps. We may regard the one like the son of man, the risen and victorious Lord, reaping the harvest of his own people, while the angel with the sharp sickle reaps the harvest of those destined for judgment.
Second, it is said that the blood came up to the horses’ bridles and spread for a distance of sixteen hundred stades or furlongs. No one has ever discovered a really satisfying explanation of this. The least unsatisfactory explanation is that sixteen hundred stades is almost exactly the length of Palestine from north to south; and this would mean that the tide of judgment would flow over and include the whole land. In that case the figure would symbolically describe the completeness of the judgment.
-Barclay’s Daily Study Bible (NT)
Fuente: Barclay Daily Study Bible
a. Anticipative But Indefinite Joy Song At Jerusalem On Mount Zion, Rev 14:1-5 .
From the distant sea whence the beast emerged, the spirit eye of the seer, standing on mount Moriah, (note Rev 4:11,) now looks toward Jerusalem, to Zion, and to the temple, where (as in Rev 6:1, where see note) are the throne and the twenty-four elders.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1. I looked, and lo The words signalize the change of sight-direction, and the opening of a new scene of symbols. Great is the contrast between the sea of the beast and the mount of the one hundred forty and four thousand. The phrase, And I saw, or looked, opens a second movement of the panorama at Rev 14:6, and a third at Rev 14:14.
A Lamb Rather, the Lamb; known from former mention. The glorious leader is here the Lamb, since it is in his atoning character that this glorious host expects to conquer. The mount Zion was of course easily seen by John from Moriah. The throne might seem to be in the most holy place, yet allowing all visional freedom. The Jerusalem they are in is not the material Jerusalem, but the mystic Christian capital, in antithesis with the mystic antichristic capital, Babylon.
And with him Who are this hundred forty and four thousand? Dusterdieck denies them to be the same as those of chapter vii, and affirms them to be a choice body of eminently pure saints. For, 1. The article is omitted before the number, so that they are not the, but a hundred forty and four thousand, the number being merely a churchly designation; and, 2. They are the Jewish symbol, because the enemies they oppose are pagan, that is, Gentile. But Alford maintains the full identity with the glorious company of the former chapter. We think the truth lies between the two commentators. The two glorious companies are the same, but not in equal amount. Chapter vii purposes to symbolize the entire Church of glorified spirits; this simply represents a part of the same, including only the earlier Church the Church of both the pagan and papal martyrdoms, hence they are called first-fruits. The hundred forty and four thousand are still from Israel, and the harpers are still the Gentiles. In fact, the whole are the souls under the altar of chapter vi, multiplied in number, and giving their own holy character to the whole Church of their period; they have risen from beneath the altar, have scaled mount Zion, and fill the very heaven above the mystic Jerusalem, pouring down their strains of song upon the ear of St. John.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
IV. THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, Rev 7:1 to Rev 20:10.
Of the trumpets, the first four are mundane, or earthly; each of the four blasts draws down a judgment upon some creational point, as earth, sea, fountains and rivers; firmamental luminaries. It is the sins of men that draw down these bolts of wrath, rendering every point of creation hostile to our peace. “Cursed is the ground for thy sake,” (Gen 3:17,) is the key-note. This sad status of humanity has existed through all past ages; but it is here represented to form a base from which the history of the renovation commences.
The first four the earthly trumpets are each brief as well as terrible; the spiritual, the fifth and sixth, expand into wider dimensions and rise to more spiritual interests; while the seventh trumpet rolls forth its series of events, through all the future scenes of retribution and redemption to the judgment.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Resurrection and Rapture ( Rev 14:1-5 ).
‘And I saw and behold the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with him one hundred and forty four thousand having His name and His Father’s name written on their foreheads.’
That this is the heavenly Mount Zion comes out in the following verses, for they sing before the throne. It can be said of them literally that they have ‘come to Mount Zion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable hosts of angels’ ( Heb 12:22) . The promise that they would have His name and His Father’s name written on them was given to overcomers in Rev 3:12. The one hundred and forty four thousand of chapter 7 were sealed on their foreheads (Rev 7:3). There is thus no reason to doubt that these one hundred and forty four thousand are overcomers from the churches and are the one hundred and forty four thousand of chapter 7, which confirms our interpretation there. As such they represent the whole church of God. This is the fulfilment of Mat 24:31 prior to the judgment of the wicked (Rev 14:14-20).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Rev 14:6 “having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth” – Comments The Holy Scriptures will be a vital part of God’s children throughout eternity, even after all prophecies have been fulfilled. We will study God’s Word in Heaven and talk about it for eternity.
Illustration – Rick Joyner writes, “Yes, there will be preaching and teaching in heaven. For all of eternity, My story will be told. That is why it is called the eternal gospel. I am he Word and I am Truth, and words of truth will forever fill My creation. All of creation will delight in My words of truth just as you are now.” [102]
[102] Rick Joyner, The Call (Charlotte, North Carolina: Morning Star Publications, 1999), 180.
Rev 14:7 Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.
Rev 14:7
Rev 9:20, “And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands , that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk:”
Rev 9:21, “ Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.”
Rev 16:9, “And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory .”
Rev 16:11, “And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds .”
Rev 14:8 And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
Rev 14:9 Rev 14:10 Rev 14:10
Isa 66:23-24, “And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD. And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.”
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Of the Church of the Reformation and the Fall of Spiritual Babylon.
The Lamb and His followers:
v. 1. And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the Mount Sion and with him an hundred and forty and four thousand, having His Father’s name written in their foreheads.
v. 2. And I heard a voice from heaven as the voice of many waters and as the voice of a great thunder; and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps;
v. 3. and they sung as it were a new song before the throne and before the four beasts and the elders; and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.
v. 4. They are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the first-fruits unto God and to the Lamb.
v. 5. And in their mouth was found no guile; for they are without fault before the throne of God. After the picture of abomination in the preceding chapter we have here visions full of comfort and strength and consolation for all believers. The Lamb now again becomes the center of interest: And I saw, and, behold, the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred forty-four thousand having His name, the name of the Father, written upon their foreheads. In the midst of the last great woe the Lord has ways and means of keeping and saving His Church. Mount Zion is often used figuratively for the Church of Christ and for the place where it is established. The Lamb is our Savior Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world. The number given here, one hundred and forty-four thousand, is the symbolical figure representing the total number of the elect. See chap. 7:4-8. These elect of God did not bear the mark of the beast upon their forehead, but the name of their Savior, Jesus Christ, and of the Father in heaven, by whose power and through whose will salvation was given them.
John now tells what he heard in that vision: And I heard a voice out of heaven as the voice of many waters and as the rumbling of great thunder; and the voice which I heard resembled that of harpists playing on their harps; and they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living beings and the elders; and no one can learn the song except the hundred and forty-four thousand that have been redeemed from the earth. See chap. 5:8. It was a wonderfully strange and beautiful music which John heard, now as the rushing of mighty waters, then again as the rumbling of loud thunder, then resembling the delicate playing of many harpists attuned in perfect harmony. The glory and power and beauty of the Lord were praised in this incomparable hymn, in this hymn which is sung only in the heavenly presence, before the throne of God, before the four cherubim, before the elders that represent the Church of God on earth; Only those that are among the elect of God are able to learn this wonderful hymn; for hypocrites and Christians in name only it is too difficult It is like the confession of Peter; flesh and blood cannot comprehend it, but only they to whom the Spirit of God has revealed it.
The faithful believers, the elect of God, are now described more fully: These are they that have not been defiled with women, for virgins they are; these have been redeemed from men as the first-fruits to God and to the Lamb, and in their mouth there is found no lie; for they are blameless. That is a characteristic of the elect of God in the midst of the abominations of this last period of the world: they take no part in the idolatry of the Pope wherewith so many people are now defiling themselves; they are pure in this respect. They have been redeemed from among men by the blood of Christ, which was indeed shed for them all, but which the great majority reject and therefore do not become partakers of its wonderful benefits. They are therefore the first-fruits of the spiritual harvest of the world, offered to God as a living sacrifice on the great Passover festival of heaven. They now belong to God, their heavenly Father, and to the Lamb, their Savior, whose cross they cheerfully bear after Him. They do not join in the hypocrisy which sings the praises of the Lamb and does the works of the dragon, but they are free from the lying and the falsehood of Anti-Christ. Altogether, they are pure, blameless, without stain, not on their own account, hut by virtue of the blood of Christ, which cleanses them from all sins.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
Rev 14:1
And I looked; and I saw, indicating a fresh phase of the vision (cf. Rev 4:1, etc.). Having described (Rev 12:1-17. and 13.) the trinity of enemies with which Christ and his people contend, the vision now passes on to depict the blessedness in store for the faithful Christian, and, on the other hand, the final fate of the dragon and his adherents. We are thus once more led to the final judgment. And just as in the former vision, after the assurance of the salvation of the faithful (Rev 7:1-17.), came the denunciation of woe for the ungodly (Rev 8-11:14), leading once more to a picture of the saved (Rev 11:15-19), so here we have the assured blessedness of the faithful portrayed (Rev 14:1-13), followed by the judgments upon the ungodly (Rev 14:14 – Rev 18:24), and leading on once more to a picture of the saints in glory (Rev 19:1-21.). And, lo, a Lamb stood on the Mount Zion; and behold, the Lamb standing on the Mount Zion, as in the Revised Version. “The Lamb,” with the article, referring to “the Lamb” described in Rev 5:1-14., whom the second beast had attempted to personate. He stands on Mount Zion (cf. Heb 12:22, “Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem”). The appropriateness of the position is seen
(1) in its strength (cf. the position of the beast, rising from the sea, perhaps standing on the sand, Rev 13:1; and cf. Psa 87:1, Psa 87:2, “His foundation is in the holy mountains. The Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob”).
(2) Because there is the temple of God, in the midst of which is the Lamb, and there is the new Jerusalem (Rev 21:2).
(3) Zion is the new Jerusalem, the opposite extreme to Babylon (Rev 5:8). And with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s Name written in their foreheads. The reading, , his Name and his Father’s Name, adopted in the Revised Version, is supported by , A, B, C, with most cursives, versions, and Fathers. Note the similarity to the description in Rev 7:1-17. Here, as there, the hundred and forty-four thousand are those “redeemed from the earth” (Rev 7:3). The number denotes a large and perfect number; a multitude of which the total is complete (see on Rev 7:4). In Rev 7:1-17. the sealing in the forehead is described. This sign marks out the redeemed in contradistinction to those who have received the mark of the beast (Rev 13:16).
Rev 14:2
And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder. Evidently the song of the heavenly inhabitants, as described also in Rev 7:9-11, where we are told they “cried with a loud voice.” The greatness of the voice is evidence of the vastness of the number. “Heaven,” from which the sounds come, includes the “Mount Zion” of Rev 7:1, on which the Lamb and his followers stand. And I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps. The Revised Version is better, and the voice which I heard [was] as [the voice] of harpers harping with their harps. This reading is supported by , A, B, C, and other good authorities. As the voice; that is, in regard to its pleasantness; reminding the hearer of the temple worship. (On the word “harp,” see on Rev 5:8.)
Rev 14:3
And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders. They sing; that is to say, the heavenly inhabitants. The four living beings; viz. those of Rev 4:9, where see an explanation of the positions occupied, and of the nature and signification of the “living beings and the elders.” The “new song,” which can only be understood by the hundred and forty-four thousand, is (as explained by Rev 4:4) a song of victory won by those who have been tried in the world and subjected to temptations. And no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth; even they that had been purchased out of the earth (Revised Version). These only can know the song for the reason given above. The joys of heaven and the song of victory are not for those who have succumbed to the world.
Rev 14:4
These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. There is little doubt that these words are intended in a spiritual sense. In the Old Testament the employment of the figure of adultery and fornication to denote spiritual unfaithfulness is common (cf. 2Ch 21:11; Jer 3:9, etc.). St. John elsewhere in the Apocalypse makes use of the same symbolism (cf. Rev 2:20,” That woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols;” also Rev 17:5, Rev 17:6). Similarly, also, St. John pictures the faithful Church as the bride adorned for her Husband the Lamb (Rev 19:7, Rev 19:8). So also St. Paul (2Co 11:2), “I espoused you as a chaste virgin to one Husband, Christ.” , “virgins,” is a word equally applicable to men or women. This verse, therefore, seems to describe those who are free from spiritual impurity and unfaithfulness; those who have not worshipped the beast and his image. Alford, however, thinks the words should be understood literally. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These words describe the great source of the bliss of the redeemed, viz. that they are continually in the presence of Christ. This is their reward for following him on earth; but the words must not be taken as referring to the earthly course of the saints (as Bengel, De Wette, Hengstenberg, and others). These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb; these were purchased from among men, the firstfruits unto God and unto the Lamb. Some have erroneously concluded that a reference is made to a portion of the redeemed to whom special honour is conceded; or to some who attain to glory before the rest. The firstfruits were the best of their kind (Num 18:12), selected from the rest, and consecrated to the service of God. So the redeemed are the best of their kind; they who have proved themselves faithful to God, who voluntarily separated themselves from the world, and consecrated themselves to the service of God while in the world, and who are thus afterwards separated by him and consecrated to his service forever.
Rev 14:5
And in their mouth was found no guile; no lie (Revised Version). They had not suffered themselves by self deceit (the second beast) to be beguiled into worship of the first beastthe world. Alford very appropriately refers to Psa 15:1, Psa 15:2, “Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill? He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart.” For they are without fault before the throne of God; they are without blemish. The following phrase is omitted by nearly every authority. The word , “without blemish,” reminds us of the “Lamb without blemish” (cf. 1Pe 1:19; Heb 9:14). Thus again they receive appropriate reward. While on earth they kept themselves undefiled; now they are, like the Lamb, free from blemish (see on Psa 15:4).
Rev 14:6
And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven. “Another” is omitted in some manuscripts, but should probably be inserted. “In mid heaven,” as in Rev 8:13, etc. Having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people; having an eternal gospel every nation and tribe and tongue and people. Probably (though not certainly) “the gospel” in the ordinary sense, which is the signification of the expression throughout the New Testament, though the word is not found elsewhere in St. John’s writings. The idea of this and the following verses is to portray the certainty of coming judgment. As a preliminary to this, the gospel is proclaimed to the whole world, in accordance with our Lord’s words in Mat 24:14. The gospel is eternal in its unalterable nature (cf. Gal 1:9), and in contrast to the power of the beast, which is set for destruction (cf. Rev 13:7). The fourfold enumeration shows the universal nature of the proclamation of the gospel (cf. Rev 5:9, etc.) in reference to the world.
Rev 14:7
Saying with a loud voice. , “saying,” in nominative, though agreeing with the accusative ,” angel.” The “great voice” is characteristic of all the heavenly utterances (Rev 14:2; Rev 11:12, Rev 11:15, etc.). Fear God, and give glory to him. Thus the angel proclaims the gospel in opposition to the second beast, who bids those that dwell on the earth to make an image to the first beast (cf. Rev 13:14). Compare the effect of the coming judgment, described in Rev 11:13. For the hour of his judgment is come. This is the reason given for the fear mentioned. That it has effect is seen by Rev 11:13. Is come; that is to say, is at hand. And worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters. As remarked above, the angel thus directly opposes the invitation of the second beast to pay homage to the first beast. Again we have the fourfold enumeration of objects of creation, denoting the universal nature of the assertion (cf. on Rev 11:6).
Rev 14:8
And there followed another angel, saying; and another, a second angel, followed. That is, of course, the second of the three who here make their appearance in close connection. Each new scene is unfolded by its own special messenger. Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication; fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, which made, etc. The second “is fallen” is omitted in , C, etc., but is inserted in A, P, some cursives, versions, and Fathers. Omit “city.” Babylon is the type of the world power. Like so much of the Apocalypse, the image is supplied by the Book of Daniel. There the kingdom is spoken of as great (Dan 4:30; cf. also Isa 14:1-32.). In its oppression of the Jewish nation, Babylon is a type of the world power which persecutes the Church of God. At the time when St. John wrote, this power was preeminently possessed and wielded by Rome, and that empire may thus be intended as the immediate antitype of Babylon. But the description is also applicable to the persecuting power of the world in all ages, and its denial of and opposition to God. Babylon is representative of the world, as Jerusalem is of the true Church of God. Alford observes, “Two things are mingled:
(1) the wine of her fornication, of which all nations have drunk (Rev 17:2); and
(2) the wine of the wrath of God, which he shall give her to drink. The latter is the retribution for the former; the former turns into the latter; they are treated as one and the same.” The description seems taken from Jer 51:7, Jer 51:8, “Babylon hath been a golden cup in the Lord’s hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad. Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed.” Again is the figure of fornication used to depict idolatry and general unfaithfulness towards God (see on Jer 51:4).
Rev 14:9
And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice; and another, a third angel, etc. (see on Rev 14:8). (On “loud voice,” see on Rev 14:7.) If any man worship the beast and his image. Here those who worship the beast and those who worship his image are regarded as one class, which they practically are (but see on Rev 13:14). This is the fornication referred to in Rev 14:8, the retribution for which follows in Rev 14:10. And receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand; a mark; but doubtless the mark of the beast alluded to in Rev 13:16 (which see). In his forehead, etc. (see on Rev 13:16).
Rev 14:10
The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; he also which is mingled unmixed (i.e. undiluted) in the cup of his anger (Revised Version). The warning is given to men while there is yet time; the fall of Babylon, which is prophetically spoken of as having taken place (Rev 14:8), being yet in the future; that is to say, at the end of the world. The language in which the retribution is couched corresponds to that in which the sin is described (see on Rev 14:8). The verb , which originally signified “to mix,” gradually came to signify “to pour,” from the ancient custom of mixing spices, etc., as well as water, with the wine. The Authorized Version “poured out,” therefore, is a correct translation. The pouring is in this case not accompanied by dilution with water; that is, God’s wrath will not be tempered, but the wicked will feel the full force of his anger. And he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb. The figure which is here used to portray the punishment of the wicked is common in the Bible. Isa 34:9, Isa 34:10, cf. with Gen 19:28, may supply the origin of the simile. The punishment is in the presence of the angels and of the Lamb; that is, probably, the purity and bliss of heaven is visible to the wicked, and the sight of it, combined with the knowledge of its in- accessibility to themselves, is part of their torment (cf. Luk 16:23). It is part of the wrath of God described in the first part of the verse.
Rev 14:11
And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever. Compare the wording of the passages quoted above on Rev 14:10, especially Isa 34:9, Isa 34:10, “The smoke thereof shall go up forever.” This statement of the eternity of punishment is also in agreement with Luk 16:26 and Mar 9:44. And they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. “No rest,” in contrast with the blessed rest of the saints (Mar 9:13). Wordsworth says, ” is a stronger expression than ‘those who worship the beast;’ it means those whose distinguishing characteristic is that they are worshipping the beast, and persist in worshipping him, even to the end. This characteristic is so strongly marked that they are here represented as keeping it even after their death.” (On the “mark,” see on Rev 13:16-18.)
Rev 14:12
Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus; here is the patience of the saints, they that keep, etc. The patience of the saints is exhibited in believing in, and waiting for, the due retribution which will overtake the wicked at the last, and in maintaining the conflict against the dragon who goes to war with those “who keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus” (Rev 12:17), the testimony which is the outcome of faith (see also on Rev 13:10).
Rev 14:13
And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me. It seems most natural to suppose that the voice is that of the angel who directs the visions of St. John (cf. Rev 1:1; Rev 4:1; Rev 19:9, Rev 19:10), but there is no certainty in the matter. Omit “unto me.” with , A, B, C, P, and others. Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth. “Henceforth” should probably stand thus, and not in connection with the following sentence. We have just had mentioned the necessity for patience on the part of the saints; here we have an encouragement and incentive to that patience, inasmuch as they who die in the Lord are henceforward blessed. In what their blessedness consists, the next sentence slates. The full consummation of their bliss may not occur until after the judgment, but the faithful have not to wait until then for peace; their conflict is, after all, only for this life, and thus they may well be content to suffer for so short a period (comp. Rev 6:11). Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them; that they shall rest for their works, etc. The first part explains the “blessedness” of the previous passage; in this rest consists their blessedness. The last clause, “for their works,” etc., explains why the blessedness consists in rest; they have henceforth no need of labours, for the effects of their former works accompany them and permit them now complete rest. Contrast the opposite fate of the wicked, described in verse 11. St. Paul urges upon Christians the same duty, and proffers the same encouragement: “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord” (1Co 15:58).
Rev 14:14
And I looked, and behold a white cloud; and I saw, introducing a fresh phase of the vision (see on Rev 14:1, etc.). White; the heavenly colour (see on Rev 3:18, etc.). Cloud is the symbol of Christ’s glory (Act 1:9, Act 1:11; cf. Mat 24:30, “And they shall see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven;” also Rev 1:7, “Behold, he cometh with the clouds”). And upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man; one sitting. That Christ is here intended is shown by
(1) the cloud (cf. Luk 21:27, “They shall see the Son of man coming in a cloud”);
(2) the expression, “Son of man” (cf. Joh 5:22, “For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son;” and Joh 5:27, “And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man;” and Act 17:31, “He will judge the world in righteousness by that Man whom he hath ordained”);
(3) the white colour (cf. Rev 6:2);
(4) the golden crown, which distinguishes him from the other appearances. He who, as Man, redeemed the world, comes as Man to judge the world. He sits, because he comes in judgment. Having on his head a golden crown. The crown, of victory, , which he gained as Man (cf. also Rev 6:2, where the description is similar). And in his hand a sharp sickle. With which the “Lord of the harvest” (Mat 9:38) reaps the harvest of the world. The figure is found in Joe 3:12, Joe 3:13, “Then will I sit to judge all the heathen round about. Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe” (cf. also Joh 4:35-38).
Rev 14:15
And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud; another angel; in addition to those already mentioned, not implying that he who sat on the cloud was an angel. Out of the temple, or shrine (); the inner sanctuary of God (cf. Rev 7:15). The angel acts as the messenger of the will of God to Christ in his capacity of Son of man, because the command is one concerning the times and seasons which the Father hath kept in his own power (Alford). The characteristic “loud voice” (see on Rev 14:7, Rev 14:9, etc.). Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe; send forth thy sickle and reap: for the hour to reap is come; for the harvest of the earth is over ripe (Revised Version). Over ripe, or dried; that is, as Alford explains, perfectly ripe, so that the stalk is dry, the moisture having been lost.
Rev 14:16
And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped. “Cast his sickle;” not the same verb as that in Rev 14:15, but which, nevertheless, has the same signification (cf. the use of this verb in Joh 20:25, Joh 20:27). There are two gatherings described in this place:
(1) the harvest of the earth by the Son of man;
(2) the gathering of the vintage by the angel.
On the whole, it seems probable that the first refers to the selection by Christ of the faithful at the end of the world, while the secured describes the ingathering of the wicked for punishment immediately afterwards. This agrees with the general tenor of the whole chapter, viz, a portrayal of the opposite fates in store for the faithful and the wicked. The description thus corresponds with the account of the end of the world given in Rev 7:1-17., with which chapter this one has so much in common (see on the first verses of the present chapter). In Rev 7:1-17. the saints are first selected and sealed, before the wicked meet their doom. Thus, also, the judgment is described by our Lord in his parables of the wheat and the tares, and the sheep and the goats. This accounts also for the first gathering being presided over by the Son of man, while the second is conducted by an angel. The punishment in connection with the vintage seems to distinguish it from the first harvest. This also corresponds to the announcements of the former angels, who first preach the everlasting gospel, and afterwards denounce those who serve the beast (Rev 7:6-11).
Rev 14:17
And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle; from the shrine, or sanctuary (as before, see on Rev 14:15), the dwelling place of the undivided Trinity, from whence come God’s judgments (Alford; cf. Rev 11:19).
Rev 14:18
And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire. Both in Rev 6:9 and Rev 8:3 the altar is connected with judgment. The angel here described is he who is referred to in those places, the fire being the fire of the altar, the fire of judgment (Rev 8:3), or, less probably; the angel who has power over fire generally (as Rev 7:1; Rev 16:5). And cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying. Again the “loud voice,” characteristic of the heavenly utterances (cf. verse 15, etc.). Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe; send forth thy sharp, etc. (see on verse 16). The sickle is figurative of the instrument by which the career of those on earth is terminated. The “sickle” and the “wine press” are both alluded to in the passage quoted above (on verse 14) from Joe 3:13. (For the meaning of this gathering of the vintage, as representing the punishment of the wicked, see on Joe 3:16.)
Rev 14:19
And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth. This angel is described in quite a different manner from “him who sat on the cloud” (Rev 14:16). And cast it into the great wine press of the wrath of God; into the wine press, the great [winepress], etc. The feminine substantive has agreeing with it a masculine adjective. It is doubtful whether we ought to see in this anything more than a mere slip of grammar. Possibly the word is of either gender. It is connected with the festival of Bacchus. Wordsworth, however, accounts for the masculine form of the adjective by supposing that the writer wishes to give a stronger force to the word, and to emphasize the terrible nature of the wrath of God. We have the same image in Rev 19:15, and it seems derived from Isa 58:1-14, and Lam 1:15. Destruction by an enemy is alluded to as the gathering of grapes in Isa 17:6 and Jer 49:9. The text itself explains the signification of the figure. There seems also some reference in the language to those who “drink of the wine of the wrath of her [Babylon’s] fornication” (Jer 49:8).
Rev 14:20
And the wine press was trodden without the city. “The city” is Jerusalem (cf. Rev 14:1), that is, the Church of God; the idea thus being either
(1) that the wicked are punished in a place apart from the just (cf. Rev 22:15); or
(2) that no unclean thing (e.g. the blood) can enter the city of the saints (cf. Rev 21:27). And blood came out of the wine press, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs; as far as sixteen hundred stadia. The Greek stadium is rather less than an English furlong, being about six hundred and six English feet; it was the length of the race course at Olympia, and the eighth part of the Roman mile. The “blood,” of which the juice of the grape is a type, depicts the punishment inflicted. Horses seem to be mentioned by proleipsis, in anticipation of Rev 19:14. The description, of course, implies the terrific nature of the punishmentprobably nothing more. In the same way the distance mentioned is no doubt intended to denote the extensive nature of the punishment, though why that particular number is chosen is not absolutely clear. Possibly it is derived from the square of 4 multiplied by the square of 10; four being significant of the created world (see on Rev 4:6), and ten being the sign of completeness (see on Rev 13:1); the number thus portraying completeness as regards the created world, and the inability of any one to escape God’s judgment.
HOMILETICS
Rev 14:1-5
Light gleams in the darkness. “Without fault!”
The apostle in this book never keeps us too long in the shade without a break. Just as, after the terrible convulsions depicted in the sixth chapter, we had the glorious vision of the blest in heaven in that which followed, so it is here. We have watched the working of three of the foes of God and of his Church. Now we are bidden to turn our eye upward, and behold again the hundred and forty-four thousand whose blessedness had been already portrayed. “And I saw”the formula which introduces a separate vision. “Behold!”indicating abruptness and surprise. The raging of the dragon and of the two wild beasts is exchanged for the sight of purity and calm. “A Lamb.” The Lamb. The Lamb of God. “Standing on Mount Zion.” Mount Zion was where the temple stood. The old Jewish figure sets forth new Christian realities. “Ye are come unto Mount Zion,” etc. (Heb 12:1-29.). “The hundred and forty-four thousand.” We have seen them before; we recognize them again. They are not only seen, but heard (Rev 14:2, Rev 14:3). “They sing,” etc.are singing. Their melody and harmony ring in the apostle’s ear. “As it were a new song.” Not actually new. It is the old, old song of redemption which is their theme. But their circumstances are so changed that it is sung with new joy, and through endless ages it will be ever new. Only those can learn this song who are redeemed from the earth. It befits only the Church of God; and not only is their position clearly defined, but their character is definitely given (Rev 14:4). There are “more to follow.” For these whom the apostle saw are but the “firstfruits.” In the fifth verse, however, there is one expression concerning thema very short one, it is trueso significant, that it attracts us more than all the rest; it is one on which we love to linger. It is this: “They are without fault.”
I. LET US STUDY THIS CHARACTERISTIC OF THE SAINTS IN HEAVEN. We say, “in heaven,” for there need be no fear as to whether we are right in doing so. They are “redeemed from the earth” (Rev 14:3): this points to what they were. They are with the Lamb on Mount Zion: this tells us where they are. They are the “redeemed:” this tells us how they came to be where and what they are. The assertion that they are “without fault” is much more striking than if it had been made by man. It is a phrase inbreathed by the Spirit of God, telling us that in the sight and light of heaven itself they are “faultless.” Shall we try and see what a character without flaw would be? The expression must mean:
1. That there is nothing wrong in them. Not a single sin do they commit. Every word, deed, and thought is pure. Nor is there even any sinfulness of nature out of which aught that is corrupt can arise. Not one inferior motive mars their actions; not one waste by thought intrudes into their devotion. Nor is there the least wish or thought but such as is perfectly in harmony with the will of him who sits upon the throne.
2. There are no infirmities of nature. Those frailties which, though not sinful, yet may be the inlets of sin into a disordered constitution, and may make it more difficult to resist evil, are done away. Here the physiological accidents of our birth are perpetually telling on us, causing each of us to be surrounded by an easily besetting sin, and making it hard to withstand temptation. The eye, the ear, the hand, the foot, yea, any member of the body, may be an occasion or a vehicle of wrong. But in the redeemed on high, all this is forever done away. True, this is only the negative side of their character. Only the negative! Blessed would it be if we could present such a negation! In consequence of this, howeverbecause there is nothing to repress the growth or manifestation of what is Divinethe image of God in them must needs be seen in its perfection. Not that each one will be equally developed. There will be many a flower whose opening has been retarded by chilly winds and adverse weather, and that has been waiting for eternity’s sun to shine upon it ere it opened its petals at all. Besides, there must be different stages of growth, etc. “One star differeth,” etc. Remembering this, let us glance also at the positive side of their character. Their judgment is sound. Their perceptions are clear. They see light in God’s light. Every perception of truth is attended with corresponding emotion, and every recognition of duty is followed by corresponding action. Every determination of the will is “holiness unto the Lord.” Their work for God is as perfect as their wills are pure. Their social life is all that it should be. Intense sympathy with each other’s joys marks them all. Benevolence moves the heart to kindly willing, and beneficence prompts the hand to kindly action; while the sense of a common obligation to a redeeming Lord causes them to unite in the “new song” with rapturous and transcendent joy. But, ah! what pen can sketch the life of beings so perfectly Divine? All that we can say is poor. We can conceive more than we can say. But the one touch of our text suggests that which surpasses alike word and thoughtthey are without fault!
II. THE PASSAGE SHOWS THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THEIR PRESENT FAULTLESSNESS AND THEIR EARTHLY LIFE. This it does in two ways. It shows us:
1. God’s work for and on them.
(1) They were purchased (Rev 14:3; cf. Rev 5:9, Rev 5:10; Tit 3:5; 1Pe 1:18, 1Pe 1:19; Rev 7:14).
(2) They were begotten (Rev 14:3); “purchased to be the firstfruits,” etc. (cf. Jas 1:18).
(3) They were sealed (Rev 14:1, “his name written,” etc.). This is the triple order of the Divine work in every case (Eph 1:13, Eph 1:14). The sealing marks them
(a) as God’s own,
(b) as the object of God’s care,
(c) as having forthwith on their forefront the badge of service.
Their constant motto is, “Whose I am, and whom I serve.” There is also indicated:
2. Their work for God.
(1) Acknowledged devotion to God and his cause. The seal on their foreheads, while graven by God, is also a visible and constant pledge of loyalty and fidelity to him. Secret discipleship is not the law of Christian life. Men are to say, “I am the Lord’s.”
(2) Avoidance of sin. They stand in contrast from those named in Rev 14:9-11; and are those specified in Rev 15:2. They have gained the victory over
(a) Satan;
(b) the first beast, or worldly pomp;
(c) the second beast, or ecclesiastical show;
(d) all filthiness of the flesh and spirit (Rev 15:4).
(3) “Following the Lamb whithersoever he goeth.” These are the men. There is no mistaking them; their marks are plain enough. They stand out from the crowd while on earth, and in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation shine as lights in the world. The Word of God abideth in them, and they overcome the wicked one. Surely it is natural to expect for such a continuity of life. Theirs is just the life which may well give promise of emerging out of the great tribulation to the calmer scenes above. It is by no “sudden strange transition,” by no leap from complacent impurity to spotlessness, that they find themselves there. Ah! no. Their being without fault is but the completion of a work which was going on here; it is a receiving the last finishing touch and impress of the Spirit’s seal. That last impress stamped out the marks of the last sin.
III. SUCH SCENES AS THESE SHOULD HAVE OVER US AN ELEVATING POWER.
1. The very fact of such an issue being set before us as the rightful goal of the individual life is of itself an ennobling of human existence. There is, it may freely be confessed, something to inspire one in the thought of the race rising to any such greatness after evolution has had time enough to work out to such an issue. But when the deduction has to be made of the extinction of individuals in the race process, the heart is taken out of us the moment our hope sets to work. The redeeming grace of God rescues the individual, and gives him a living hope. And one of the most painful features of the day is to find many, trained and nurtured in, and even saturated with, the beautiful and consoling truths of the glorious gospel of the blessed God, casting away from them the only props on which such a hope can rest. The hope survives a while, but cannot long continue when its support is gone. The only alternative is supernaturalism or despair. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”
2. We may well admire the high standard of gospel morality. Some there are who accuse us of a low-toned morality in preaching, “Believe, and be saved.” One would think that we stopped with the word “believe,” and went no further. But; the fact is, no sinful man can start fairly for holiness until he has a firm standing and a new power. Faith in a living Saviour ensures both these, and faith in him alone.
3. Let us be filled with thankfulness that we are permitted such a fore glance of those who once
“Wrestled hard, as we do now,
With sins, and doubts, and fears.”
What they were, we are. What they are, by the grace of God we too may be.
4. Be it ours to imitate those who have gone before. The victory they now enjoy was not won without many a hard struggle. Supposing we had before us now two men: one, a model of faultless social propriety, yet steeped in self complacency; the other, the worst of publicans and sinners. We would gather from the scenes reviewed in this chapter a word of equal appropriateness to both. To the open sinner we would say, “You may be separated from your sins, if you will. Christ will kill them and save you!” To the other we would say, “You must be separated from your pride; for you can no more enter heaven in your spirit of self righteousness than the most openly abandoned sinner.” Mercy is free to all. The best need it. The worst may have it. Without it, we must all likewise perish.
5. Let no Christian struggler despair. God is able to keep him from falling, and to present him faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy.
Rev 14:6-11
The three angels.
The varied scenes in this book are, to us, not so much pictures of events which, when once occurring, exhaust the meaning of the prophecy, but rather representations of what is continuously going on and repeatedly renewing itselfof present day realities, and not merely of passing incident. The passage before us, looked at in this light, is full of most stimulating teaching; full of comfort to those whose faces are set in the right direction, and full of terrific warning to others. We can bear a great deal if we know what the worst wilt be, and that sooner or later it will be over. To see through a trouble is a great relief in it, and, a fortiori, if at the end there is glory. In these sentences will be found the key to a great deal in the book, and, in fact, an indication of its aim. The believer is shown that there is much tribulation awaiting the Church ere the end shall come; but there will be an end to it, and brightness beyond it. It is otherwise with the scene set before the ungodly. In their horizon there is no discernible ray of light. And all the visions of this book thus alternate between the light and the shade. In the paragraph before us for present study we have a vision of three angels flying in the midst of heaven. Their messages are precisely those which are being given throughout the Christian age; they belong as much to this century as to any other; to any other as much as to this. They give three messages which are perpetually true. We wilt study their messages seriatim.
I. THE FIRST ANGEL. (Rev 14:6, Rev 14:7.)
1. He has something.
(1) What is it? “A gospel”good tidings. We know what these are. Free salvation forevery penitent.
(2) For whom is it? For “every nation,” etc. No nation so civilized that it is not needed. No nation so degraded that it will not suffice.
(3) For how long? “An eternal gospel.” One that will be suitable, true, and adequate throughout the whole age for which it is intended. To the end of the age there will be no other. No advance in natural knowledge can ever put men beyond the need of it, and no philosophy of man can ever be any substitute for it.
(4) For what purpose? To proclaim it. It is to be heralded far and wide. Not merely as a witness, to condemn the rejectors of it; but mainly as “the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.” This gospel is the rod of God’s strength.
2. He says something. To this gospel (in itself a message) there is also attached a message: “Fear God… the hour of his judgment is come.” , not the judging process ever going on; not the issue, or sentence. The way in which man receives the gospel is in itself a test or proof of what he is. “For judgment I am come into this world.” This is not the hour of God’s final sentence. That is in reserve. But it is a judging hour. Whenever and wherever the gospel is preachedand only thereis the actual trial going on, whether men will turn to the light or turn from it. Men are called on to give glory to him, acknowledging his majesty, confessing their sin, and receiving God’s pardon.
II. THE SECOND ANGEL. (Rev 14:8.) He has to make the proclamation, “Babylon the great,” etc. It seems as if this were inserted by anticipation. The fuller detail of riffs is given later on. “Nothing,” says Dr. Lee, “is more marked than the contrast which is maintained between Babylon as the type of the world, and Jerusalem as the type of the Church. The one is introduced by the foundation of Babel soon after the Deluge; the other by the establishment of the house of David in the city of Zion. Babylon is a scene of confusion. Jerusalem is as a city that is compact together.” Babylon breaks up. Jerusalem is the city that emerges out of the ruins. Thus the second angel is a coworker with the first. One is God’s messenger to draw men out of the world. The second is one who proclaims the certain downfall of the great world agency which has set up its false attractions and lured men by its harlotry to forsake the Lord. And from the very first the sentence hath gone forth against this great Babylon, that she must fall. The false in life, in religion, in commerce, must go. All wickedness is decaying, and will utterly perish before the Lord. The heathen were wont to say, “The feet of the gods are shod with wool, but their hands are hands of iron.”
III. THE THIRD ANGEL. (Rev 14:9-11, “If any one,” etc.) This is a proclamation to the individual. “If () any one.” The judgment on great world powers may be national; that on the individual is personal. The former in this life only; the latter in the next also. “Worshippeth;” present tense, “is worshipping.” If any is so found when the Lord cometh to judgment, if he is then drinking of “the wine of the wrath of Babylon’s fornication,” another cup shall be given him (“him” emphatic). “He also shall drink,” etc. Of what? Of the wine of the unmixed wrath of God. Unmixed wrath? What can that be? God grant that we may never know! But may we not say thus much? It will be pure and holy wrath, unmixed with any foreign ingredients. It will not he marred by weakness, nor by excess, nor by defect. It will be a pure and perfect equity dealing with sin. The figurative expressions here”fire,” “brimstone,” “smoke”are terrible ones, drawn from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah; and only such figures will avail to set forth the destructive and devouring effect of holy wrath upon a guilty soul. What is the effect? “No rest;” “torment.” There never can be any rest for a guilty conscience under the sway of Infinite Holiness. To those ill at ease with God there must be torment. The structure of mind and conscience necessitates this. For how long? “Forever and ever” (Authorized Version); in the margin of the Revised Version, “for ages of ages.” This is the more nearly exact translation of the original. It does not affirm the absolute endlessness of the punishment. Since the word “age” has a plural, it plainly is not necessarily infinite. For no such word could have a plural. Infinity cannot even be doubled, much less be multiplied indefinitely. Further, no finite multiple of a finite term can possibly reach infinity. So that to affirm the absolute unendingness of this punishment would be to go beyond the text. At the same time, it is equally clear that the words are so terrible that they do not bring in sight any end of it. Nor is there the slightest gleam of light in the horizon for the finally impenitent.
More at length, elsewhere, has the present writer developed this dread theme. The position to which we are shut up in Scripture is this: God has not shown us an end to future punishment. We dare not affirm that it never will end; but if any one does that, he does it entirely at his own risk. Objection: “But this phrase is the very strongest which is employed in the Word of God to denote absolute unendingness. We reply, No. It is a fearfully strong expression for an indefinitely prolonged period; but there are stronger expressions; e.g. “Thy kingdom is a kingdom of all the ages” (Psa 145:13); “To him be glory through all the generations of the age of the ages” (Eph 3:21); “My salvation shall be forever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished” (Isa 51:6); “Not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an indissoluble life,” etc. (Heb 7:16). The strongest expressions, which declare absolute unendingness, are reserved in Scripture for the good alone. Even when we grant all this, however, the outlook for the wicked is one of unspeakable gloom; of a night with no revealed morn beyond it. There is, however, one more feature of this penalty. It will be inflicted “in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb.” There is a profound interest taken in the destinies of man in the distant places of creation. The angels are supremely concerned for the honour of the Son of God. And they will acknowledge that God’s judgments are right. The Son of God, too, who died for us, will himself be the Judge. All things are put into his hand. “God so loved the world that he gave his Son;” but he does not love less that Son whom he gave. And while he will not dishonour that Son by letting any sinner who repents remain unforgiven, so neither will he dishonour him by letting any one who rejects such a Saviour remain unpunished. Finally, we deem it of infinite moment, when a preacher has to handle these awful themes, that he should show with vivid clearness that it is sin which is to be mainly dreaded, rather than its penalty. Sin is the infraction of law. The punishment is God’s defence of law. Could we wish for a time to come when existing sin would not be punished? Could we wish that the punishment of sin should be in any other hands than those of a pure and holy God? Could we wish that God should give a law, and never guard its honour? Could we wish that he should give us a gospel, and then let it be rejected with impunity? Could we wish that he should surrender the Son of his love, and then let him be trampled underfoot, and remain unvindicated? “But,” it may be said, “while I fully confirm that, still I do long for the time to come when sin will cease altogether.” Be it so. If God wills it, so it will be sooner or later; but we cannot find any clear disclosure of that. Three things only remain for us to see to:
(1) To hate sin as God hates it.
(2) To seek his grace to slay it in us.
(3) And then to cooperate with him in putting it down everywhere.
Rev 14:13
A voice from heaven: the blessed dead.
However deep the gloom in which the description of the future struggles of the Church may plunge us, the Holy Ghost never suffers it to be indefinitely prolonged. We have stood with wondering awe amid the deep recesses of a glacier, and, as if lest the chill should be too severe and the gloom too intense, many a chink overhead let in a light and a glow that revealed wondrous glory above. Even so, as we stand in the midst of the threatening conflicts of the Church, we see light let in from abovea glory shining in the gloom. Thus it is here. We have witnessed the rise and power of the dragon, of the first beast, and of the second beast. We have looked upward and caught a glimpse of the heavenly state. We have heard the voices of the three angels, proclaiming
(1) the everlasting gospel,
(2) the fall of Babylon the great,
(3) the punishment of the ungodly; and again there is a gleam of heavenly brightness shining in upon us.
A voice is heardwhose, we are not toldbut it is a commanding voice, under the direction of the Holy Ghost, and that is enough for us. Moreover, it is from heaven, from the realm of light, from the region whence the shadows have fled away. From that higher region the changing scenes of life and death, of struggle and of victory, are beheld; and from the clearer light in which these earthly incidents are viewed, there is an emphatic testimony given to us which is of priceless value. As so much of the book deals with the struggles of earth, it is restful indeed to be permitted to hear something as to how they fare who have passed beyond them.
I. IN THIS DYING WOULD THERE IS A FEATURE WHICH DISTINCTIVELY MARKS SOME DEATHS. “The dead which die in the Lord.” The, dead which are dying. The believers in Christ under the present dispensation, who are, one by one, passing away, are evidently intended. “Dying in the Lord” is no vague expression. It defines. It includes. It limits. Otherwise were there no meaning in the phrase. It indicates, indeed, nothing special as to the physical mode of decease; nor as to age; nor as to the accidents of death. The expression, “from henceforth,” is ambiguous. (For various interpretations, see expositors.) We incline to the opinion that the “henceforth” here referred to is the time of weariness, in which the faith and patience of the saints wilt be severely tried by the raging of the powers of evil; that it will be blessed to die in Jesus, and pass away to the realm where the weariness (cf. ) will be known no more. The significance of the expression, “die in the Lord,” should be carefully studied. Deaths are not alike any more than lives are. The deaths of Lazarus and Dives were as widely different as their lives. To die “in the Lord” is the natural sequence of living to the Lord. No change of state can affect the relation of believers to their Saviour (1Th 5:10; Rev 1:18). Such a dying as is here referred to must include
(1) trust,
(2) union,
(3) communion,
(4) surrender,
(5) rest
in Christall going on in the act of dying, as really as in the act of living. Whether we live or die, we continue to be the Lord’s. Once his, we are ever his.
II. THERE ARE MANIFOLD GROUNDS ON WHICH WE KNOW THOSE TO BE BLESSED WHO THUS DIE IN THE LORD. Each phrase in the text is full of meaning.
1. Their blessedness is declared by the Holy Ghost. “Yea, saith the Spirit.”
2. It is proclaimed to the apostle by a voice from heaven.
3. There is a command to place it on record for all time.
Each of these three lines of thought is indicated by the words of the verse. Much more is indicated, however, by the doctrine underlying the expression, “in the Lord.” This phrase is used to express the unique relation between Christ and the believer. It is constantly recurring. “In Christ.” From this the blessedness of those dying in him may be confidently affirmed; e.g.:
1. Our Lord, in his work for men, contemplated the whole duration of their existence.
2. He is the Saviour of man’s whole naturebody, soul, and spirit.
3. Our Saviour’s work for believers touched every point of their need.
4. He is himself the Lord of life.
5. Being in him is enough for time and eternity. We know whom we have believed.
6. He is guardian of believers as much after death as before it. Hence it must be the case, “Blessed,” etc.
III. WE ARE DISTINCTLY TOLD IN WHAT THE BLESSEDNESS CONSISTS. There is no ground in Scripture for asserting the sleep of the soul between death and the resurrection. It is, indeed, only “the body” which “is dead because of sin; the spirit is life because of righteousness.” And Jesus expressly declared that whoso keepeth his sayings should never taste of death. “Absent from the body,” they are “at home with the Lord.” Not, indeed, that the fully glorified state is theirs as yet, nor will be till the resurrection. Not till Christ, our Life, is manifested, shall we be manifested with him in glory. The heavenly life has three stages. The first beginning at regeneration, and closing with the dissolution of the body. The second beginning at death, and ending at the resurrection. The third beginning with the resurrection, and never ending. It is this intermediate stage which is pronounced “blessed.” They are blessed in death, and blessed after it. “The having died is gain” ( ). How?
1. Negatively. “They rest from their labours.”
(1) From struggles with sin.
(2) From wearying conflict.
(3) From every fault and flaw.
(4) From all the frailties incident to a disordered frame.
2. Positively. Their works follow with them. They not only leave behind them blessed impulses which will follow after their earthly works have ceased, but they take with them their works into another life; i.e. the works of faith and patience and holy activity which were the outwork of their devotion and zeal were a part of themselves; they not only expressed what they were, but they played their part in the growth and perfecting of their characters. And not only so, but the Lord, into whose presence they are ushered at death, sees both them and their works too, as one. As Ewald, “Their works are so far from being lost through their death, that they follow them into eternity” (quoted in ‘Speaker’s Commentary,’ in loc.). The same law works in the case of the righteous as in the case of the wicked. “Some men’s sins are open beforehand, going before them to judgment; i.e. a man goes into eternity, plus his works, whether they be good or bad. Blessed, indeed, is it when the works have been those of faith and love, which, though in many cases forgotten by the worker, shall be remembered by the great Saviour Judge.
IV. A COMMAND IS GIVEN TO PUT THIS ON RECORD. The truth contained in this verse is too precious a one to be left to the uncertainty of a merely verbal tradition. We know not to what shreds and patches our glorious gospel might by this time have been reduced, had it been thus left at the mercy of floating reports handed down by word of mouth. It was “safe” to write this. The value of this truth is simply unspeakable.
1. It shows us that death is not a terminus of life, but an incident in living. It is a change of states under the guardian care of a Divine Redeemer, who loves his own too much to let them perish.
2. In the light of such a truth, we should dread death less. Nay, more; we ought not to dread it at all. Our Saviour has passed through the gates of the grave himself, that he might deliver them who through fear of death have been all their lifetime subject to bondage.
3. A right use of this truth will prepare us for enduring with more calmness and bravery the trials and hardships of this life. Persecution. Insult. Martyrdom. What fretfulness under sorrow is often shown by those who abandon the evangelical faith! Life of Carlyle; a man who, though a prodigy of intellectual acquirement, lived a life which was one continuous whine.
4. Let us not grieve unduly over those who are gone. If they have died in the Lord, and if we are living in the Lord, we shall go to them, but they shall not return to us. We can rejoice in the thought of the increasing wealth of our treasure in the heavenly state, as saint after saint is caught upward into light.
5. Let us look forward hopefully and cheerfully to our own future. What work the Master may have appointed for us we cannot foresee, nor do we at all know when we shall be called up to join the “men who are made perfect.” But we need not wish to know. It is enough for us that they and we are one.
“The saints on earth and all the dead
But one communion make;
All join in Christ, their living Head,
And of his grace partake.”
6. Knowing how well we are cared for in life and in death by our blessed Lord, let us concentrate all our energies on glorifying our Lord. This is the conclusion to which the Apostle Paul himself arrived. Knowing that when we are absent from the body we shall be at home with the Lord, we should make it the object of our supreme ambition to be well pleasing to him. This, indeed, is our one concern. To work, and love, and obey, and wait. And in time our Master will come and fetch us home, and we shall be forever with him.
Rev 14:14-20
Harvest time.
Any attempt to interpret the visions of this book as if they followed each other chronologically only, will inevitably fail. Sometimes, at any rate, the visions are such that they overleap the near future and glance forward to one far more remote. In fact, speaking generally, the order of them is far more moral than it is temporal, following not so much the order of years as the evolution of principles and the growth of souls. It certainly is so in the paragraph before us, in which we are carried forward in thought and symbol to Heaven’s great harvest daya day of which our Lord had himself spoken, not only in a parable, but in an exposition of that parable (Mat 13:1-58.), in which terms that were figurative and symbolic are exchanged for such as are plain. It will be a study of no small interest to see how our Lord, in his communication to his apostle from heaven, sets forth the same truth which he had taught to his disciples when on earth. Rev 14:14, “I saw, and behold, a white cloud.” This is the symbol of the Divine presence, so that we are not surprised when we read further, “On the cloud I saw one sitting like unto the Son of man”emblem of the Lord appearing in his glory”having on his head a golden crown”in token of royalty”and in his hand a sharp sickle”setting forth the work for which he will come in his glory, viz. to reap “the harvest of the earth.” Rev 14:15, “Another angel crying Send forth,” etc. That this angel came forth out of the temple speaks his authority as from thence. Nor should it seem strange that thence should come the commission to the Son of man to reap. For as the Son of man, our Lord has his authority and appointment from the Father (Joh 5:22, Joh 5:26, Joh 5:27). Rev 14:16, “He cast his sickle upon the earth.” The final reaping is under the superintendence of the Son of man. Rev 14:17, “Another angel he also having a sharp sickle.” The ministry of angels will be employed by our Lord in gathering in the harvest (Mat 13:1-58.). Rev 14:18, “Another he that hath power over fire.” Each of our Lord’s host has his own department of service. “Her grapes are fully ripe”have reached the acme of ripeness,their full growth. Rev 14:19, “The angel gathered the vintage of the earth.” As believers are branches in Christ, the living Vine, bringing forth good fruit, and only good, so there shall be an earthly product, a mimicry of the heavenly, bringing forth bad fruit, and only bad. “And cast it into the wine press of the wrath of God.” A striking figure drawn from the Old Testament (see Isa 63:1-6). As there, so here, the treading of grapes in the wine press represents the defeat of the foes of God and of his Church. Rev 14:20, “Without the city.” The Church is the city of God. All the wicked are outside of it. “There came out blood from the wine press” (cf. Gen 49:11; Deu 32:14). The sap of the grape is called the blood of the grape, as being the element of its life. In an actual material conflict actual blood would he shed. Here the whole of the reality is in the spiritual realm, though the figures are drawn from the material. The main, yea, the sole thought is the defeat of the enemies of God. “Blood even unto the bridles of the horses.” It is said in Rev 19:14, “The armies which were in heaven followed upon white horses,” etc. The hosts of God ever have, ever do, ever will, join him in trampling down the foes of righteousness. And it is but the carrying out the figure when the chapter speaks of the blood coming up to the bridles of the horses. “As far as sixteen hundred furlongs.” Hengstenberg understands this as equivalent to “a judgment encircling the whole earth.” What can we learn in so obscure a vision? We replyThe vision is not an obscure one, if we let Scripture be its own interpreter. There are at least six lines of high and holy thought, which, on the basis of it, may be profitably followed up.
I. LONG, LONG BEFORE THE END COMETH, THE SPIRIT OF GOD HAS TOLD US WHAT IT WILL BE. We gather not only from other Scriptures, but from the fact that our Lord spoke in parables when on earth, and thus set forth truth in parable when he spake from heaven, that there is an analogue between the earthly and the spiritual kingdoms. As in the natural world there are tendencies ever at work which move forwards towards development and completion, so is it in the Spiritual. “First the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.” So is the kingdom of God. And because the great Creator perfectly understands the tendencies of today, he can with entire certainty forecast the issues of the last day. In fact, the foreknowledge of God is an infinite power of the calculation of chances. As he knows perfectly the meaning of what is today, he clearly sees what will be on any given day. And in his fellowship with men, he has taught them to write the main feature of the end, viz. the harvest time of seed already in the ground, whether good or bad.
II. IT IS A MANIFEST FACT THAT THERE ARE ON EARTH AT THIS MOMENT MEN IN THE TWO WIDELY DIFFERENT CLASSES OF GOOD AND EVIL. No one can deny this unless he ignores plain facts before every one’s eyes. There are men who are stainless in their sanctity. There are others who are fiendish in their vileness. And it is not in reference to such widely contrasted lives that men find so much difficulty. Many years ago, an Oxford professor remarked that there were some who had never known anything about repentance towards God or faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ, and who yet therefore could not be classed among the wheat, yet they were externally so moral and irreproachable they could not be classed among the tares! What was his conclusion? That there must be an intermediate class! There is another and a sounder conclusion. Our Lord declares there are two, and but two. But even if there are some that seem to us to come between, we dare not impeach the verdict of him who searcheth the hearts. The fact is, we can understand only issues. Christ can discern tendencies. He knows them now, and by their fruits we shall know them. Germs. Growth. Development. Manifestation.
III. FOR WISE REASONS, NOT ALL OF WHICH ARE KNOWN TO US, BOTH GOOD AND EVIL ARE TO GROW TOGETHER SIDE BY SIDE. The good have to confront the evil and keep it in check. The evil is permitted to counterplot the good and to retard its spread. But we must not speak only in the abstract. Rather let us say, good men, evil men. For when we bring human nature, with all its powers of willing and combating, into the question, then we can at once see that at least one purpose is gained by this temporary comingling together. Good men are made better, sturdier, and braver for having a conflict to endure. And much of the evil is turned into good through the grace of God. Note: Do not let us fall into the millennarian heresy of supposing that the tares are going to increase prodigiously and the wheat to diminish, until the Lord comes. There is not one Scripture text for that. Scripture only says, both are to get riperthe good, better; the bad, worse.
IV. AT THE TIME FORESEEN BY GOD THIS ‘PROCESS WILL, ON BOTH SIDES, BE CONSUMMATED. Do we understand by this that in the spiritual world there comes a time when character cannot possibly advance further either in goodness or in wickedness? We do not so understand it. Analogy is not identity, but only resemblance with some difference. And because there is all the difference between natural growth and spiritual, we must not expect a resemblance on every point. But two points are certainly clear, and a third is possible.
1. A time will come in the development of character when all doubt ceases as to what a man is.
2. Then there can be no question whether his destiny is the garner or the fire.
3. It may be that then no such thing as a change of character is possible. Eternal punishment will only be in the case of eternal sin (Mar 3:29, Revised Version).
V. AT THIS STAGE THE GREAT REAPING TIME WILL COME. Then the commission to consummate all will be fulfilled by the Lord Jesus Christ (Mat 13:41). The angels will be the reaper band. The result will be the complete manifestationthe final divisionthe great decision. The gathering in of the righteous into the kingdom. The trampling down the grapes in earth’s vineyard in the wine press of the wrath of God! Dread words! whose detail no pen of man can sketch; but that towards one end or the other every one is at this moment tending, is one of the most certain of the laws of human nature.
VI. THIS DREAD VISION IS GIVEN US FOR HIGH AND HOLY PURPOSES.
1. It should relieve those whose faith and patience are now being so sorely tried by the growth of error and sin. Both are putting on riper forms than ever. Well, the end will come. “The fire will try every man’s work.”
2. It should lead us all to estimate the value of this life. The end towards which we all are tending is one of ripeness, either in righteousness or sin.
3. It should lead each one to look solemnly at the fact that, however long it may be before the universal consummation will be,
(1) God will act then on the very same principles on which he worketh now.
(2) Now there are working in us tendencies which shall be developed then. The law of continuity holds in the Divine procedure. The law of growth in human character. Note: There may be in grace, what can never be in nature, the conversion of tares into wheat. If this is to be, it must be before the harvest day.
(3) The sickle may cut down individuals long before its final thrust.
HOMILIES BY S. CONWAY
Rev 14:1-5
The perfect Church.
How well it is for us, in forming our estimates and in regulating our conduct, to have set before us a true ideal and a faultless standard! To compare ourselves with ourselves, that is, with men like ourselves, is, so St. Paul tells us, not wise. And all experience proves the truth of his word. The low levels of ordinary religious life in the present day all result from our practically, not professedly, putting before ourselves standards which are faulty and inferior, instead of those which would be constantly summoning us to higher and holier attainment. Now, the Word of God is ever furnishing us with such perfect standards. Our Lord again and again bids us turn our gaze heavenward, that we may see there how we ought to judge and what we ought to be. How frequently he speaks of our Father in heaven, that we may beheld in God the true ideal of all fatherhood! And that we may the better understand and act towards our children, he tells us that “in heaven their angels do always behold,” etc. And when his opponents murmured, as was their wont, at his receiving sinners and eating with them, he rebuked them by the reminder that in heaven there is not murmuring, but joy, even over “one sinner that repenteth.” And here in these verses we who belong to the Church on earth have given to us a vision of the perfect Churchthe Church in heaven. And the contemplation of it cannot but be well for us, that we may judge thereby our beliefs, our worship, our selves, and seek more and more to conform them to the heavenly pattern. Observe, then
I. THAT WE CANNOT LIMIT THE CHURCH TO ANY ONE VISIBLE CORPORATE BODY. The claims of any such Church body here on earth to be exclusively the Church, and the denial of membership therein to all outside that body, are shown to be false by the fact that the notes and characteristics of the true Church are found in many Churches, but exclusively in none. There are, thank God, few Churches, if any, that have not some of them. Out of all of them the Church is gathered, but to no one of them is it confined. The members of the Church are described here as having the name of the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ “written upon their foreheads.” Now, this is a figure of speech to tell of the character of those who form the Church; that that character is:
1. God like. It is the Father’s name which is written; hence they who bear it are holy and without blemish, perfect even as the Father in heaven is perfect.
2. Visible. It is written on their foreheads. The light shines before men; it cannot be hid. That godliness is much to be questioned which no one can see, or which is hidden away and kept for only certain seasons, places, and surroundings. That which is here said teaches the reverse of such a doubtful thing.
3. And it is permanent. It is “written.” “Litera scripta manet.” It abides, not being a thing assumed for a time, and like the goodness told of by Hosea, which as the “morning cloud” and “early dew goeth away.” It is the habit of the life, the continual characteristic of the man. Such, in general terms, is the distinguishing mark of membership in Christ’s true Church. And again we gratefully own that in all Churches it is to be found. Would that it were on all as in all!
II. THE CENTRE OF THE WORSHIP OF THE PERFECT CHURCH IS “THE LAMB.” St. John says, “I beheld the Lamb;” not “a Lamb,” as the Authorized Version reads. He does not stop to explain. He has so often spoken of the Lord Jesus Christ as the Lamb, that there can be no room for doubt as to his meaning. It is the Lord Jesus Christ, not so much in his more majestic attributeshis might, majesty, and dominionthat we are bidden behold, but in his sacrificial character as “the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world.” As such he is the Centre of the Church’s adoration. He is seen on Mount Zion, that site of Israel’s temple being taken continually in Scripture as the symbol of the home of God’s redeemed and the scene of their eternal worship. He is surrounded by the Church of the Firstborn”the firstfruits” unto God, whom he has redeemed by his blood. The number named here, twelve and the multiples of twelve, is ever associated with the Church. And the twelve times twelve tells of the Church’s completion, the “accomplishment of the number of the elect.” Now, in the midst of that perfect assembly, that Church of which these are the representatives, stands “the Lamb” as the Object of the adoration, the love, and the worship of all. That Church on earth must, then, lack this distinct note of the heavenly Church if in it Christ the Son of God, as the Redeemer, the Saviour, the Sacrifice for the world’s sins, be not lifted up as the Object of all trust, love, and obedience, and if he be not so regarded by the members of such Church. Let us askWhat is he to ourselves? How do we look upon him who is thus looked upon by the Church in heaven? In the midst of our Zions, do we see, as the chief, the central, the pre-eminent figure, the Lamb of God? And in the inner temple of our own hearts, is he there enshrined and enthroned as he hath right and ought to be? What is our hope and what our trust? How can we ever hope to be numbered with “the Church of the Firstborn,” if the name of him, to which every heart there responds, awakes no echo, no answering thrill, in us? Our lips utter that name often enough, and in all manner of ways; but what do our hearts say? That is the question to which this vision of the Lamb on Mount Zion, surrounded by the adoring Church, should give rise in every one of us. And may God grant that it may meet with a satisfactory answer!
III. THE WORSHIP OF THE PERFECT CHURCH IS A JOYFUL WORSHIP. We are told that “they sung a new song.” Joy finds utterance in song; it is its natural expression; and when, therefore, we read of the songs of heaven, it is proof of the joys of that blessed place. The worship of heaven takes this form. Here, prayer and preaching form, and properly form, part of our worship; but there, praise alone is heard. Here, we wail our litanies and pour forth our supplications; but there worship is all songthe voice of glad thanksgiving and joyful praise. How much is told us of the blessed future in that one fact! And of this song we are told many precious things.
1. How full voiced it is! St. John likens it to that “of many waters”that loud, resonant sound as when the floods lift up their voice, or the sea roars, or where some vast volume of water pours itself from over a great height to some far down depth. What a sound comes up from that boiling caldron of tossing waves! The magnitude of the sound of that song is what St. John seeks to set forth by his similitude of “many waters.”
2. And its majesty also is indicated by its comparison to “a great thunder “the voice of the Lord as they of old regarded it. It is no mean, trivial theme that has inspired that song, but one that wakes up every heart, and opens the lips of all the redeemed, to show forth the praise of him who hath redeemed them. It is a noble song, grand, glorious. How could it be otherwise, telling as it does of deeds of such Divine heroism, of conquests of such moment, and of sacrifice so vast?
3. And how sweet a song is it also! For St. John supplies yet another similitude: its sound was like that “of harpers harping with their harps.” So sweet, so soul subduing, so full of heavenly delight, that it brought smiles to the saddest countenance, and wiped away all tears. And is not the song of redemption just such a song as that? Even we know of songs of Zion so unspeakably beautiful, and set to music such as, it seems to us, even angelic choirs might rejoice in. But if earthly song can be so sweet, though coming from lips and hearts so little pure, what must that song have been which is told of here, and which St. John can only compare, for its unutterable beauty, to the strains of the most perfect instruments that the ancient world knew ofthe harp, Judah’s national symbol, and best beloved accompaniment of praise? But not alone the mingled magnitude, majesty, and sweetness of the sound of this song is set forth here, but also its substance.
4. It was “a new song.” There had never been anything like it before. They who sang it had never joined in, or even heard of, such song till they sang it in the presence of. the Lamb on Mount Zion. It could not but be new, for it was inspired by new and glorious revelations of God; sung amid conditions and surroundings that were all new, and by hearts and lips made new by the renewing grace of the Holy Spirit of God. Much there had been in days past for which they had been constrained to praise and give thanks, but till now the half had not been told them, and hence none of their old songs would serve. They must sing a new song; it could not but be new.
5. And it was known by none but those who sang it. “No man could learn that song but,” etc. How can he who has never even been to sea know the joy of him who has been saved from shipwreck? Who but the child knows the mother’s love? The song told of here is but the result of the experiences through which they who sing it have been led. How, then, can they sing it who have known none of these things? But those represented by the hundred and forty-four thousand know the depths of sin and sorrow from which, and the heights of holiness and joy to which, and the love by which, and the purpose for which, they have have been uplifted. They know the conviction of sin, and the joy of pardon, and the Holy Spirit’s grace, and the love of Christ. But what does the unbeliever know of these things? and how, therefore, can he learn this song? The question comesIf such be the worship of the heavenly Church, are our Churches on earth preparing their members to join therein? Churches here should be vestibules for the heavenly Church. Is the Church with which we are associated so to you and me? No one can learn that song unless they be redeemed. Have we the qualification? Have we come to Christ? Are we trusting in him? “We must begin heaven’s song here below, or else we shall never sing it above. The choristers of heaven have all rehearsed their song here ere they took their places in the choir of heaven.” But only Christ can touch the soul’s sin darkened eye, and cause it to see that truth which will make redemption precious, and hence he who is our Saviour must be also our Teacher. So only can we learn the new song of his redeemed.
IV. ITS MEMBERS ARE WITHOUT FAULT. After that the blessed condition of the redeemed has been set forth, we are next shown their character. The general and symbolic expression which tells how they all have the “Father’s name written on their foreheads” is expanded and explained by the more definite declarations which we must now notice. It is said “they are without fault,” or “blameless,” as the Revised Version reads; and the apostle specifies four of the chief temptations to which they had been exposed, and which they had resisted and overcome.
1. And the first he names is that of impurity. In the unusual expression in which this sin is referred to, there is no countenance of any teachings which would give higher place to the single over the married life. If the unmarried alone are amongst the redeemed, it is questionable if one of the apostles of our Lord would be found there. But that which is pointed at is those sins of which it is best not to speak, but which we know full well have their roots in the very centre of our nature, and which it is a lifelong struggle to repress and subdue. But this must be done, andblessed be he who saves not only from the guilt, but the might of sin!it may be done, and is being done, even as it was with “these” of whom our text tells.
2. Half heartedness. Great was, and great is, the temptation to follow Christ only along paths not difficult. But to follow him “whithersoever” he wentah! how many would be and are sore tempted to shrink from that! They would follow their Lord for some wayeven at times a long way; but to follow where difficulty, danger, disgrace, death, waited for themfrom that how many would shrink! But “these” did not.
3. Conformity to the world. “These” had the holy courage to be singular, to come out “from among men,” to go against the stream, to be other than the rest of men. low difficult this is those only know who have tried to do as “these” did. The assimilating power of the society in which we mingle is almost resistless, and often it is full of spiritual peril. It was so to those for whom St. John wrote, and not seldom it is so still. Hence we have to go unto Christ “without the camp, bearing his reproach.” “These” did this, and so won the high honour and rich reward told of here.
4. Insincerity. When to confess Christ meant, perhaps, the loss of all things, yea, their very lives; when martyrdom was the guerdon of faithful acknowledgment of their Lord, how tremendous must have been the temptation to tamper with truth, to conceal, to compromise, to evade, to equivocate! But of “these” it is said, “in their mouth was found no guile.” He who is the God of truth, yea, who is the Truth, ever lays great stress on this virtue of guilelessness, whilst deceit and lies are declared abominable in his sight.
CONCLUSION. Such was the character of that perfect Church”the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.” Doubtless there were all other forms of Christ likenesslove, patience, meekness, and the restfor the varied forms of Christ’s grace as seen in character are generally found in clusters. Where you find some you generally find others, yea, in some measure, all of them. But as we read of only what is said here, our heart well nigh despairs, and would altogether were it not that the same source of all goodness is open to us as to them of whom we here read.
“Oh, how can feeble flesh and blood
Burst through the bonds of sin?
The holy kingdom of our God,
What man can enter in?”
And the sad reply would be, “None,” were it not that he who summons us to such high attainment ministers all needed grace. Therefore we may and we must be “holy as he is holy.”S. C.
Rev 14:4
The greater salvation.
“Firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.” From this and the many like expressions which are scattered over the New Testament, we gather that there is a salvation greater and less. For here it is said that these hundred and forty-four thousand are “firstfruits.” Therefore we learn
I. WHAT THESE ARE NOT.
1. They are not all the saved. The very word indicates that there is much more to follow. They are but the beginning. Nor:
2. Are these firstfruits the mass of the saved. True, a large number is named, but what is that compared with the “great multitude that no man can number, out of every,” etc.?
II. WHAT THEY ARE. The word “firstfruits” teaches us that these thus named are:
1. The pledge of all the rest. Thus Christ has “become the Firstfruits of them that slept” (1Co 15:20). He is the pledge and guarantee that in him “all shall be made alive.” And so the natural firstfruits of corn guaranteed the rest of the harvest. For the same sun, and all other nurturing forces which had ripened the firstfruits, were there ready to do the same kindly office for all the rest. And so we are told, “The Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies.” The same power is present for both the first and after fruits.
2. The pattern and representative of all the rest. Compare the first and after fruits. In the main they were alike; and so in the spiritual world also. But:
3. The firstfruits were pre-eminent over the rest. They were specially presented to God, and held in honour; so was it with the natural grain. But, without question, there is pre-eminence implied in being the firstfruits of the heavenly harvest.
(1) In time. Theirs is “the first resurrection,” of which we read in Rev 20:1-15.that resurrection of the dead which St. Paul calls “the resurrection,” and “the mark” towards which he pressed, if by any means he might attain unto it (Php 3:1-21.). “The rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years,” etc. (cf. Rev 20:1-15.).
(2) In honour. St. Paul called it “the prize of our high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” Now, a prize implies special honour. And our Lord tells us that there is a “first” and “last” in the kingdom of heaven; “a least” and “a greatest.” “One star differeth from another star in glory.” There is “an entrance administered abundantly,” and there is a “being saved so as by fire.” As here there is no dead level of reward, so we might believe, and we are taught, that there is none such in heaven. Infinite mischief is done by the belief that all will be equally blessed, equally honoured, equally like God. It is as if we had adopted the creed of Ecclesiastes, where we are told, “One end cometh alike to all,” instead of St. Paul’s, who tells us, “What a man soweth that”not something else”shall he also reap,” in quantity and quality too.
(3) In service. That they were pre-eminent here, who that knows their history on earth, or reads even this book, will question?
(4) In character. See how they are described as to their spiritual purity, their unreserved consecration, their separateness from the world, their guilelessness and freedom from all deceit.
(5) In the approval of God. Of them it is written, “Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection” (Rev 20:1-15.). How could it be otherwise than that such as they should stand highest upon the steps of the everlasting throne, and nearest God and the Lamb?
4. They are the elect of God. In another part of this book they are spoken of as “the called, and chosen, and faithful.” They answer to the description of God’s chosen, and so we learn that “whilst all the elect are saved, all the saved are not. elect” (Alford). All are not firstfruits, greatest, first, in the kingdom of heaven. The very words imply order, gradation, rank. But it is for us to take heed as to
III. WHAT WE SHOULD STRIVE TO BE. There are some who say that they will be content if they can only “get just inside the door of heaven “such is the phrase. This sounds very humble minded, and if it be so, then those who thus speak are just those who would not be content with any such place. For, and to their credit be it said, they are such as desire to be like their Lordto resemble him, to possess his Spirit, and to please him in all things. But if they desire, or will be content with, the lowest place in heaven, they must get rid of all these beautiful and blessed qualities. But rather than this they would die. Too often, however, the phrase is but a substitute for diligence and faithful following of Christ. They are content to be but little like their Lord; they do not follow after holiness in the fear of God; they are the worldly hearted, those the least worthy of the Christian name. But who would be content to be as these? Who would not be in full sympathy with St. Paul, who said, “I labour to be accepted of him” (2Co 5:9)? Ours, then, is to be not contented with any lowest placeif we be, there is grave doubt whether we ever attain to thatbut to “press toward the mark for the prize of our high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”S.C.
Rev 14:6, Rev 14:7
The gospel of judgment.
St. John beholds “another angel flying in mid heaven, having an eternal gospel to proclaim.” Concerning this gospel note
I. IT IS NOT THE GOSPEL. The gospel is that which tells to sinful man that there is eternal life for him in Christ; “that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” This is a very different gospel. It is one of judgment. Its message is, “The hour of God’s judgment is come.” And the message of the second angel (verse 8) points to one scene where that judgment has already fallen; and the message of the third angel (verse 9) is one of awful threatening against the sin which would bring the judgment upon “any man.” Very far removed, then, is this gospel from that which we commonly understand by the word “gospel.”
II. BUT IT IS A GOSPEL. Any message that announces the destruction of a power that is cursing the human race, and spreading misery and despair on all sides, must be a gospel. Like the news that a ferocious wild beast that has slain many is at last itself slain. There have been men who, from their crimes, their ambition, their unscrupulous cruelty, and the devastations that they have caused, have won for themselves the name of “enemies of the human race.” When, then, these cruel oppressors have met their fate and been overthrown, the tidings have justly filled men’s hearts with joy. In view of similar facts, the psalms bid us “Sing unto the Lord a new song: sing unto the Lord, all the earth for he cometh to judge the earth.” Judgment and joy are joined together as cause and effect. And so here this message from God, that “the hour of his judgment has come,” is a joyful message, a gospel. In the New Testament Christ’s destructive work, his overthrow of Satan and all the power of hell, is, as is right, gratefully and constantly commemorated. And to the persecuted Church, groaning beneath the oppression of the tiger in human shape, who then ruled the world, and whose thirst for blood no amount of slaughter could slake, must it not have been a gospel for them that this angel proclaimed?
III. AND IT IS AN “ETERNAL” GOSPEL. For not once alone, but throughout all the ages of the world, its message has been sooner or later embodied in deed. The tyrants and oppressors of God’s people have been hurled from their place of power which they had so abused, and have had to meet and endure the awful judgment of God. The records are in the Bible, and in all the world beside. It is a fearful fact for him to face who, Pharaoh like, is hardening himself against God, but a blessed fact for those who groan beneath his cruelty. It is the conviction of this eternal gospel which gives patience to men who witness cruelty and outrage inflicted on those who cannot defend themselves. They know that the God of this gospel lives, and in due time will reveal and vindicate himself as the Refuge of the distressed, and the Helper of the helpless.
IV. AND IT IS FOR ALL NATIONSFOR HUMANITY AT LARGE. As in Rev 13:7 “the beast” had power given him by the devil “over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations,” so now this gospel was to be proclaimed from the mid heavens, where the angel was seen swiftly flying “over [the word, , is the same] every nation, and tribe, and tongue, and people.” God forgetteth none; he knows and is touched with the sorrows of all; he is the all Father, the “our Father, which art in heaven.” His “chariot wheels” do doubtless oftentime seem “long in coming;” but he will come. Man anxiously scans the heavens, and frequently fails to see the angel that St. John saw; but the rush of his pinions shall one day be heard, and the brightness of his countenance shall one day be seen, and the “great voice” with which he shall give forth his message shall fall upon our listening ears. Let all who hope in God rejoice; let all his foes and ours be in great fear.
V. GOD IS CONCERNED TO MAKE IT KNOWN. The gospel is entrusted to men. “We have this treasure in earthen vessels,” said St. Paul, “and he hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.” But this gospel of judgment is committed to an angel, who is seen flying swiftly to make proclamation of it far and wide. These facts, that it is an angel to whom it is entrusted, that the angel flies swiftly, that he proclaims his message with “a great voice,”all seem to point to the Divine urgency and concern that it should be made known. Nor is the reason far to seek. There is nothing so hinders man’s belief in the goodness of God as the experience of the cruelty of his fellow man. The children of Israel would “not listen” to Moses, who came to them with the good news of deliverance, “by reason of their bondage.” Their fellow man was the highest placed of any being they knew, and he was hard and cruel, and shut out sight and thought and faith of that far other Being, who was their fathers’ Godthe God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And how many there are who through fear “are all their lifetime subject to bondage”! It is of no use to proclaim to such a scheme of mercy; they ask for justicejustice upon their oppressors, justice for themselves and those who suffer with them. Men can believe in and respect justice without mercy, but they can neither respect nor believe in mercy without justice. Therefore, to the great company of the oppressed, the proclamation of judgment is a gospel, and must precede the message which we specially call the gospel. And therefore the angel is sent, and on speedy wing and with loud voice the gospel of judgment is proclaimed.
VI. WHAT SHOULD BE ITS EFFECTS.
1. The fear of God. (Verse 7.) What other could result from such a message? And a blessed result it would be.
2. The giving of glory to God. From the delivered people, and from those who were filled with salutary fear, there would be this giving of glory. And this for God’s revelation of his righteousness; for his deliverance of them from oppression. And on the part of the wicked who had heard and believed God’s warning, they would give glory for that they had been spared, and not cut off in their sins, as they well might have been.
3. Worship. This, with fear and the giving of glory, had been demanded for “the beast” by himself, and the demand had been complied with. But it is now demanded for God, who, as the Creator of all things and the Judge of all the earth, alone has right to worship. Oh that wherever there be a hardened heart, the message of judgment may come with such power as that there shall be real repentance, revealing itself in holy fear of God, in giving him glory, and in the worship of his Name!S.C.
Rev 14:8
The voice of the second angel: the judgment of Babylon.
I. WHAT IS MEANT BY “BABYLON“? There can be scarce any doubt that the name points to:
1. Persecuting Rome. She is spoken of under this pseudonym because it was not safe to write, or in any way openly utter, words which might be construed as treasonable to the empire. There were laws sharp and stern, and accusers only too willing to bring those laws into action, which would involve in ruin and death those who spoke or wrote such open word. Therefore under this disguise, penetrable enough by the Christian Church, the name of Rome, her cruel and relentless persecutor, was concealed. Because also she stood in the like hateful relation to the Church of God as in ages gone by Babylon had stood to the Church of her day. Babylon had been of old, as Rome was now, the ruthless ravager and the bloodthirsty destroyer of God’s people. And as the judgment of God was denounced and came upon Babylon because of her crimes against God’s Church, so now like judgment had been denounced, and was about to come upon Rome for her crimes against the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. And as Babylon had been one of the world wide empires, so now Rome occupied the same pre-eminence. None could compare with Babylon, in the days of her greatness, for wealth or power or glory; and so, when St. John wrote this book, none could compare, in any of these respects, with Rome. And there is yet, perhaps, another purpose in this name here given to Romethe purpose to recall to the mind of the suffering Church the certainty of the coming judgment on Rome, by the fact that such judgment had come on Babylon.
2. All persecutors. The mind of God to such is shown by what he did to Babylon of old. He would have us learn that he will ever do the like to those who sin in like manner. Did ever any persecuting power find that it bad done wisely and well? Let the records of history reply from Egypt down to Spain.
3. And all idolaters. Idol worship was not a merely intellectual preference for one form of religion rather than another; had it been only that it would not have brought down upon it so many awful judgments, nor have been branded with so foul a name. But it was a system of abominations; it was “earthly, sensual, devilish.” It was a religion that laid no constraint on the passions, no bridle upon the will; that left man to his likings so only as the ceremonial of idolatry was observed. And every religion that leaves man thus has an idol. A creation of the mind, if not of the hands, instead or God, is idolatry in substance, whatever it may be in name.
II. IN WHAT SENSE COULD BABYLON BE SAID TO HAVE FALLEN?
1. Rome had fallen in a very real way when St. John thus wrote. For there had been a great moral fall. Rome had a noble past. God had raised her up to great power, had endowed her with magnificent qualities, and made her the mother of many noble sons. In the unfolding of the great drama of Divine providence, she had a high and honourable part to fill, and none who know her history can deny that for a long time she fulfilled the wilt of God. But an evil spirit took possession of her, and then she became what is here said. Cruelty and lust, pride and oppression, and whatever was unclean and abominable, found welcome and home in her. “Fallen” was the absolutely true and righteous verdict that could alone be given concerning her. But there was to be an outward fall corresponding to this inward one. And it is spoken of as already come, because:
2. It was already decreed. The sentence had gone forth, and was but awaiting execution.
3. It had begun. An empire that had become the prey and prize of one successful general after another; that might be won and lost any day at the caprice of bribed bands of soldiers, had lost all stability, and was already “as a bowing wall and a tottering fence.”
4. But chiefly because it was so soon to be accomplished. To the quickened vision of the seer, the barbarian nations were already plunging over her borders, and wasting and destroying on every hand. Rome was to him as if already in the deadly grip of those fierce hordes who should one day crush out her life. The vision was so vivid to him that he speaks of it as actual, real, and present. And in all these senses the judgment of God is gone out against ungodly men. “Condemned already” is our Lord’s word for such; and “is fallen, is fallen,” is St. John’s. Oh for the quickened vision to make all this real to godly men, that they might labour and pray more in order to “snatch brands from the burning;” and to ungodly men, that they might “flee from the wrath to come”!
III. THE GROUNDS OF THIS AWFUL JUDGMENT. It was no arbitrary sentence, nor one that had been hastily or without righteous reason pronounced. Yea, there had come to be imperative necessity for it, and it would have been unrighteous had it been withheld.
1. Rome had come to be one mass of corruption. St. John adopts the prophetic style, and speaks of the “wine of her fornication,” by which he means that she had come to “work,” not “all uncleanness” alone, but all manner of godless abomination besides, “with greediness;” as with greedy grip the drunkard grasps the wine cup. Rome had become a “putrefying sore.” Let Tacitus tell.
2. And she was the seducer of others. Holding the position she did, she could not but be a fountain of influence for all cities and lands that came under her wide reaching rule. And she had corrupted them all; she had “made all nations drink of the wine,” etc. And he who branded forever the name of Jeroboam the son of Nebat because he “made Israel to sin,” has here again declared his wrath against all, whether nations or individuals, who do the like. And:
3. The cup of sin becomes the cup of wrath. Such is the Divine law. This is the meaning of the condensed sentence, “the wine of the wrath,” etc. The wine of her sin, and the wine of God’s wrath upon it, are drunk out of the same cup. “In the hand of the Lord there is a cup, and the wine is red but the dregs thereof, all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out, and drink them” (Psa 75:8). “Our pleasant vices,” Shakespeare tells us, become our scourge; and life is full of proof that so it is. At the bottom of every cup of sin there is “wrath.” Ah! what need have we all to offer continually the prayer, “Give us a heart to love and dread thee, and diligently to live alter thy commandments”!S.C.
Rev 14:9-12
“The most awful threatening the Bible contains”
(Bengel). Undoubtedly it is so. It makes our flesh creep and our heart shudder as we read it. It is to be noted, that these three angels (Rev 14:6, Rev 14:8, Rev 14:9), who “excel. in strength” bear messages of increasing severity. The first bids us “fear.” The second tells of the dread judgment upon Babylon. This third threatens all men everywhere with like and yet more awful doom, if they “worship the beast” or “receive his mark.” Now
I. WHAT DOES ALL THIS MEAN?
1. It seems to mean that the ungodly shall be punished with incessant and unspeakable torments in hell fire, and that forever and ever. This is the doctrine that has been deduced frown this passage again and again. It is one of the buttresses of the popular theology. It is always quoted in support of this doctrine, and is regarded as one of the chief of the proof texts. But if it do teach this, we ask:
(1) Would not the language be more clear? Who certainly knows what the two beasts, the first and second, stand for? Who can do more than guess, with more or less of probability, what St. John meant by them; much less what it was intended we, in our day, should understand by them? And what is “the mark of the beast “? and how do men receive it “in their forehead,” or their “hand”? We may think we understand all this. But can any one be sure? But consequences so awful as are threatened here would not be told of in language so ambiguous. If we today be threatened with such doom, the offences that incur it will surely be set forth in words unmistakably plain, and not such as we find here.
(2) May not temporal judgments be so described? May not the same language be used for something quite different from what it is said this means? Yes, for Isaiah thus speaks of Edom (Isa 34:8-14): “The smoke thereof shall go up forever.” The temporal judgments that came upon Edom are thus described. And so, in Rev 18:1-24., we have word for word the fulfilment on earth, not in Gehenna, of the threatenings we are now considering (cf. Rev 18:9, Rev 18:15, Rev 18:18). Why, then, may not temporal judgments be what are meant here?
(3) Why, in the closing vision of this book, are death, hell, and the lake of fire, pain, sorrow, death, and all such things, declared to have “passed away” and to be “no more” (cf. Rev 21:1-27.)? All these things have not been transferred to some other planet, to defile its surface and darken its heavens. They have “passed away,” he alone abiding who “doeth the will of God.”
(4) Why is the language of the Bible so constantly of such a kind as to lend the strongest colour to the belief that death, destruction, perishing not a never ending existence in sufferingis the doom of the finally impenitent? That this is so can hardly be denied. The passage before us is, probably, the only one which seems to teach everlasting suffering.
(5) And, if it were a Divine doctrine, would it not, like all other Divine doctrines, “commend itself to every man’s conscience in the sight of God”? The truth that St. Paul preached did so commend itself. If this be part of it, why does it not also so commend itself? It is notorious that it does not. Conscience revolts against it, and insistence upon it has generated more unbelief and atheism than, perhaps, any other cause whatsoever. We, therefore, cannot believe that what this passage seems to many minds to mean, it actually does mean. But:
2. We note the following facts.
(1) The occasion of this threatening. Terrible persecution, when it was absolutely necessary to fortify and strengthen the minds of Christians with every consideration that would help them to be faithful under the dreadful trials that beset them.
(2) And in this way this threatening, and others like it (cf. Mat 10:1-42.), were used, and were no small help to the steadying of the wavering will and the strengthening of the feeble heart. “The ancient Cyprian often strengthened his exhortations to steadfastness under bloody persecutions with this word.”
(3) The fulfilment of this word (cf. Rev 18:1-24, and parallels). Therefore, whilst not limiting it to temporal punishments:
3. We regard it as telling of that “everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord,” which shall be the doom of all apostates and all who persist in rebellion against the Lord.
II. WHAT DOES IT TEACH? Amongst other lessons these:
1. The retribution of God upon unfaithful and wicked men is an awful reality.
2. That in the midst of temptation the remembrance of this will he a great help.
3. That it is the love of God which tells us the truth.
4. That they are fools and self destroyed who will not “come unto” Christ that they “might have life.”S. C.
Rev 14:13
The blessed dead.
“And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth.” By such word as this it is that Christ “hath abolished death.” True, it is at the side of the open grave and over our dead that we read them, so that the stern, hard fact of death is still with us, and often well nigh crushing our hearts with its load of sorrow. Death yet reigns. But his sovereignty is shorn of its worst power, since words like these felt upon the ears and hearts of men. The Vale, vale, in aeternum vale! of broken hearted paganism is gone, never to return. The broken pillar and the extinguished torch are no longer fit emblems to place over the grave of our loved ones. The pillar rears its fair shaft and lacks not its beautiful coronal, and on the eternal shore the torch burns more brightly than ever, and is by no means gone out, though our dim eyes for a while see it not. And this unspeakably precious gospel, which brings us such glad tidings of great joy, it is which some men want to silence as effete and incredible, that they may substitute for it their own dismal speculations, the only outcome and clear utterance of which is that, in regard to religious faith, there is nothing solid under our feet, nor clear over our heads; all is one great “perhaps;” nothing certainnothing; neither soul, nor God, nor eternal life. To all such we say, “If we be dreaming, as you affirm, then for God’s sake let us dream on, unless you have some better, surer belief to which we may awake.” But let us now think awhile of the unspeakably precious truth our text contains. And we note
I. WHOM IT CONCERNS.
1. Those “in the Lord.” “It is obviously of the utmost moment that we rightly understand who are spoken of. Alas! the context has warned as that the blessing here pronounced is not for all. The blessed dead are placed in marked contrast with those who in this life have borne the mark of the beast, which is the world, in their forehead and upon their hand. How glad are we, for ourselves and for those dear to us, when it comes to the last solemn moment, to forget that there is any distinction between the death of the righteous and of the wicked; between the death of one who has loved and served Christ, and of one who has lived ‘without him in the world’? It seems so hard to preserve that distinction” (Vaughan, in loc.). But there it is, and may not be overlooked, though, to the unspeakable hurt of men’s souls, it too often is. Now, “to die in the Lord,” we must first have been “in the Lord.” And can any be said to be “in the Lord” if they never think of him, never call upon him, never look to him, and never seek to live to him? “In the Lord” is the constant phrase which tells of a living trust and hope and love towards the Lord; and how can the description be applied where none of these things are? God help us all to remember this!
2. And these when they are dead. Just then, when we want to know something of them; when with streaming tears we yearn
“For the touch of a vanished hand,
And the sound of a voice that is still.”
II. WHAT IT SAYS OF THEM.
1. That they are “blessed.” What unspeakable comfort there is in this assurance for those who are left behind! Not unconscious, for such high epithet as “blessed” belongs not to mere unconsciousness. Not in purgatorial pains, for neither could that be called blessed. Doubtless Christ’s transforming, assimilating power, through the energy of the Spirit of God, goes on in the departed believer, as it is necessary that it should. For St. Paul teaches us that “he who began a good work in us will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Php 1:6). Therefore that good work is going on still; death does not hinder, but accelerate it. But the process is not by those hideous means which mediaeval monks imagined, and which the very word “purgatory” suggests. But they are blessed; that is enough to know, enough to uplift the mourner’s heart.
2. And immediately that they quit this life. Such is the meaning of the word “henceforth.” “It means substantially even now; not merely in the new Jerusalem which is one day to be set up on the renovated earth, but from the very moment of their departure to heaven” (Hengstenberg, in loc.).
3. They die to rest. “Yea, saith the Spirit, in order that () they may rest [or, ‘that they shall rest’] from their labours.” Death, therefore, is for them but the Divine signal that the day’s work is done, that the evening hour has come, and that they are now to go home and rest. The wearisome work and toilsome trying task, which has often well nigh worn them outsuch is the significance of the word “labours”all that is over, and death is the Lord’s call to them to now lie down and rest.
4. Their works follow with them. Not their labours, the element of distress and pain in their work, but their works. How do they follow? Perhaps:
(1) In that they are carried on still. They were works for the honour of their Lord, for the good of their fellow menprayers and endeavours to draw others to Christ, intercessions for the Church of God, all manner of beneficent deeds. Are all these to cease? Is there no room for them where the blessed dead now are? Shall the sainted mother who here besought the Lord for her children that they too may be savedshall she cease that “work”? The Lord forbid that she should; and our text seems to tell us that she, and all they like her, will not, for their works follow them.
(2) For reward. There is the scene, there the day, of recompense. Not here or now. “Let thine eyes look right on, and thine eyelids straight before thee.” “Oh how great is thy goodness which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee!”
(3) In their effects upon their character. We cannot see the soul, we saw only the man, and faulty enough he was, we well knew; but all the while, as the days of his life went on, and this or that work was put upon him to discharge, the soul was, by means thereof, as the marble by the sculptor’s chisel, being wrought into a condition of beauty and faultlessness such as from the first had been in the Creator’s mind.
(4) As ministers to their joy. The joy of gratitude that they were enabled to undertake and accomplish them. The joy of knowing that as seed they will yield blessed harvest, and, perhaps, of witnessing that harvest. St. Paul spoke always of his converts as his “joy and crown of rejoicing in the day of the Lord Jesus.” Such “works” will be a joy to remember, to look upon in their results and to continue in. They cannot but be, every way, ministers to our joy.
III. THE EMPHASIS THAT IS LAID UPON IT.
1. It is declared by “a voice from heaven.” This voice “may well be conceived to be that of one of ‘the just made perfect,’ testifying from his own experience what the true members of the militant Church on earth have to expect in heaven” (Hengstenberg, in loc.). When we remember that the attestations to our Lord’s Divine Sonship were made in similar manner by a voice from heaven, this declaration is thereby lifted up to a like high level of authority and importance.
2. It was commanded to be written. “This command to ‘write’ is repeated twelve times in the Revelation, to indicate that all the things it refers to are matters of importance, which must not be forgotten by the Church of Christ.”
3. It is confirmed solemnly by the Holy Spirit. “Yea, saith the Spirit.” With such solemn sanctions are these words so inestimably precious to the Church, introduced to our notice and commended to our reverent heed.
IV. THE PURPOSE OF ITS PROCLAMATION.
1. It was a truth most necessary for the time when it was given. See the circumstances of the faithful Church, how fearful their trial, how dire their need of all and everything that would fortify their minds amid such awful temptations to be unfaithful to their Lord. And what truth could be more helpful than such as this?
2. And it is needed still.
(1) To comfort us concerning our departed brethren in Christ.
(2) To strengthen us in view of our own departure.
(3) To cheer us amid work that often seems thankless and unfruitful, although it be the “work of the Lord.”
With our hope we ought never to be weary in such work. Noble work has often been done by men who had no such hope. Think of the three hundred at Thermopylae. Think of the holy men of old to whom the grave seemed to end all, to be the place where they should be “no more,” and yet who became heroes of the faith (cf. Heb 11:1-40.).
(4) To every way ennoble and elevate our lives.
(5) To draw forth our love and devotion to him “who having overcome the sharpness of death, hath opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers.” Are these purposes fulfilled in us?S.C.
Rev 14:14-20
The harvest and the vintage.
It is held by many that both these refer to the same fact of God’s judgment against sin and sinners. And no doubt, at times, the “harvest,” does mean such judgment (cf. Joe 3:13; Jer 51:33). In Mat 13:1-58. both harveststhat of good and evil alikeare told of “Let both grow together until,” etc. Still more commonly the figure stands for the people of God and their ingathering into his blessed presence. And we think that here, whilst there can be no doubt as to what the vintage means, the “harvest” does not mean the same, but that gathering of “the wheat into his garner” which shall one day most surely be accomplished. For see the preface (Mat 13:13) to this vision. It speaks of the blessed dead and their rest. And but for the plain pointing out that the vintage did not refer to them, that also would have been so understood. And the Lord Jesus Christfor he is meantis himself the Reaper (Mat 13:14), himself thrusts in the sickle (Mat 13:16), whilst the vintage of judgment is assigned to an angel (Mat 13:17), indicating that it is a different work from the other. And the figure itself, the harvest, the precious corn fully ripe, belongs generally and appropriately to that which is also precious and an object of delight, as is the company of his people to the Lord whose they are. It is not the time of the harvest, but the corn of the harvest, which is spoken of here, and this is ever the type of good, and not evil. Thus understood, let us note
I. THE HARVEST. “The harvest of the earth.” This tells of:
1. The multitude of God’s people. Who can count the ears of corn even in one harvest field? how much less in the harvest of the whole earth?
2. The preciousness of them. What do we not owe to, what could we do without, the literal harvest of the earth? Our all, humanly speaking, depends upon it.
3. The joy of God in them. Cf. “They shall joy before thee with the joy of harvest.”
4. The care that has been needed and given.
5. The “long patience” that has been exercised. Who but God could be so patient? We often cry, “How long, O Lord, how long?” But he waitsand we must learn the like lessonfor the harvest of the earth, for that which is being ripened in our own soul. Harvest comes only so.
6. The evidence of ripeness. We know of the natural harvest that it is ripe by the grain assuming its golden hue. “Knowest thou what it is that gives that bright yellow tinge of maturity to that which erst was green and growing? What imparts that golden hue to the wheat? How do you suppose the husbandman judges when it is time to thrust in the sickle? I will tell you. All the time the corn was growing, those hollow stems served as ducts that drew up nourishment from the soil. At length the process of vegetation is fulfilled. The fibres of the plant become rigid; they cease their office; down below there has been a failure of the vital power, which is the precursor of death. Henceforth the heavenly powers work quick and marvellous changes: the sun paints his superscription on the ears of grain. They have reached the last stage; having fed on the riches of the soil long enough, they are now only influenced from above” (Spurgeon). And when it is thus with the people of God, when the golden light of the Sun of Righteousness shines on them and they are transformed thereby, then the evidence of ripeness is seen, and the season for the sickle has come.
7. God will certainly gather in his people. “Harvest shall not fail”such was the primeval promise, and it has never failed; nor shall this harvest either. “Look up, lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.”
II. THE VINTAGE. Under the altar on which was “the fire,” over which the angel told of in Mat 13:18 “had power,” were the souls of them that had been slain for the testimony of Jesus (Rev 6:9). They had asked, “How long, O Lord, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?” And now the answer is given. The vintage of vengeance has begun. For the “grapes” of the “vine of the earth” are fully ripe. It is the judgment of the whole earth, when “all nations” shall be gathered (Mat 25:1-46.) before the Son of man. The square of fourfour ever the symbol of the earthamplified by hundreds, the “one thousand and six hundred furlongs” of Mat 13:20, likewise point to the universality of this awful judgment. Minor fulfilmentspresages, predictions, and patterns of the final judgmentof these there have been many and will be many; but in this vintage of vengeance upon the world’s sin all are summed up and fulfilled. But will there be any such event at all? Will Christ “come again to judge the quick and the dead,” as the Creed declares? or is it all a myth and imagination, a nightmare, which the sooner the world shakes off and awakes from the better? Many affirm that it is this; many more would like to think so. But what is the truth?
1. Men have ever felt that there ought to be such judgment. See in the Old Testament, m the Psalms, Job, in the prophets, what distress of soul God’s people were in, because they feared for the faith of a just God. So many wrongs were perpetrated, and no one called to account. Wicked men in great prosperity, “flourishing like a green bay tree,” and all the while godly, innocent men trampled in the very dust by these wicked, well off ones. And many saints of God were heartbroken under the pressure of indubitable facts like these, asking for, and not finding any, redress. Men who were not saints, as they could not find any law of judgment, took the law into their own hands. And hence they added torture to death. For merely to kill a man was no punishment at all. Who would care for that? Death rids a man of all trouble. Make him suffer, therefore, whilst he is alive. So they thought and acted, and hence the whole system of tortures, from the imagery of which some of the most dread emblems of this book are drawn. But the tears of good men, in view of this problem of righteousness unrewarded and persecuted, whilst unrighteousness went not only unpunished, but held high festival; and the tortures inflicted by cruel men when they got a criminal into their hands;both are testimonies to the conviction that a Divine and perfect judgment ought to be.
2. And now it is declared that such judgment shall be. Conscience assents to it. What endorsements of God’s Word the guilty conscience gives. Read ‘Macbeth’ for one illustration out of thousands more.
3. Human law and justice strive after right judgment. What consternation there is when some great criminal escapes and baffles all means of discovery, and what joy when such are caught and tried and condemned! It is all confirmation of the truth taught by this “vintage.”
4. And the judgments that come now on ungodly nations, communities, and individuals are all in proof. History rightly read reveals the truth in luminous light: “Verily there is a God that judgeth in the earth.” This harvest for God’s holy ones, and this vintage of those for whom his holy vengeance awaits, are both to be. When the sharp sickles that gather the one and the other are put in, where shall we be found? That is the question of questions for us all to answer. God, of his mercy, give us no rest until we can answer it aright!S.C.
HOMILIES BY R. GREEN
Rev 14:1-5
The triumphant host.
Again amidst the threatenings of danger and trial, words of consolation and assurance mingle. And out of the midst of the contemplation of the most virulent opposition to the truth, the holy seer is called to lift up his eyes on high, and behold the Mount Zion and the host of the pure and faithful surrounding the Lamb. The hundred and forty-four thousandthe Church’s symbol of twelve reproduced and multiplied. It is the Church in her triumph. “The elect” whom Satan has not been able to “deceive” are now in presence of the Redeemerever “the Lamb” in this book. Their “tribulation” is over; their enemies subdued. They have “kept the faith.” Thus is fidelity through trial predicted; thus is it encouraged. There are who will “endure to the end” and “be saved.” In viewing this triumphant host we must take notice of
THE DISTINGUISHING FEATURES OF THEIR CHARACTER AND THE DETAILED ELEMENTS OF THEIR REWARD.
1. These are the pure, the undefiled. They are distinguished as free from the prevalent sinfulness of the hour. Nor could symbolism more strikingly stand allied to realism than by describing the saintly hosts as “virgins.”
2. They are the obedient. “They follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth.” Holiness of life is the invariable adjunct of sanctity of spirit. These “take up the cross and follow him” whom they love, through evil report and good report.
3. They are the truthful. No lie is found in their mouthneither the lie of error nor of untrue profession; nor are they given to falsity and deceitfulness of life.
4. Then are blameless. “Without blemish.” These are the redeemed: “the firstfruits unto God and unto the Lamb.” The great harvest lies beyond in the unnumbered host. Their reward is thus detailed:
(1) They are purchased: the Lamb’s own property, “whose own” these sheep are.
(2) They are admitted and received within the heavenly courts: they stand on “Mount Zion.”
(3) They bear the symbols of their confession and of their recognition: the holy name is on their foreheadssignifying their devotion to Christ; as they who were the servants of the beast bore his name.
(4) In eternal joyfulness they sing ever new songs of praise to God, their Creator and Redeemer. A song unknown and unlearned by any but the faithful in Christ Jesus. Truly may we hear an undertone of exhortation:
(a) “Wherefore comfort yourselves with these words;” and
(b) “Be thou faithful unto death.”R.G.
Rev 14:6, Rev 14:7
“The everlasting gospel.”
The hearts of the faithful have been strengthened and comforted by the vision of the pure heavenly community whose united voice was as that of “harpers harping with their harps.” Now another vision brightens the eye of the holy seer. At present the idea of a gospel universally diffused has not been specially represented. Incidentally we have heard the voices of the elders proclaiming praise to him who had redeemed them from “every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation.” And we have heard the word of the angel concerning the little book: “Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.” Now, in harmony with the prevalent habit of the book, the vision or teaching is repeated, but in another form. It is a definite assurance to the little Church, in its dispersion, and apparent conquest, when its voice is silenced by the severities of persecuting violence. Fear not; the gospel shall be proclaimed, and proclaimed to all; nor shall it be crushed; it is an everlasting gospel. Inasmuch as he who partakes of the gospel partakes of the spirit of the gospel, it would be his most fervent desire that all should participate in the blessedness and peace of that gospel. To him, therefore, the cheering news of its universal diffusion must bringwhat the whole book is designed to bringthe utmost consolation. Of the gospel we learn
I. THAT IT IS A GOSPEL OF PERPETUAL ENDURANCE. “An eternal gospel.” It is ever to be proclaimed as good news. It never ceases to be good news. It may be hindered, and for a time even apparently destroyed; but it still lives. It is eternal.
II. IT IS FOR ALL. The good news is not to be confined to a few, or to favoured races only. It is for “them [i.e. all them] that dwell on the earth,” even for “every nation, and tribe, and tongue, and people.” The universal diffusion of the gospel is a pledge that persecution shall not “stamp it out.”
III. IN ITS TEACHING IT URGES:
1. The fear of the Lord”Fear God”which is the beginning of all wisdom; and to heathen and idolatrous nations the first truth.
2. The paying to him due honour. “Give him glory.”
3. It declares the approach of his judicial rule. “The hour of his judgment is come.”
4. It calls to his worship as the true Lord, who “made the heaven, and the earth, and sea, and fountains of waters.”R.G.
Rev 14:8
A further vision of triumph.
Again “another angel”a secondfollows the first, and with a separate message. It is brief, but pregnant. The earnest desire of the good is satisfied. That which shall sustain the “patience of the saints, they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus,” is here. It is an authoritative declaration of the final fall of the antagonistic kingdom, be that whatever it may. “Babylon” ever symbolizes the oppressor of Jerusalemthe antagonistic kingdom that opposes and oppresses the true Israel of God. Babylon is “great;” Babylon has power over “all nations,” for she compels their acceptance of her corruption; Babylon makes all nations to join her in her degradation and impurity and unfaithfulness. But she is “fallen””fallen is Babylon the great.” From this prophetic word the Church, struggling against the oppression of a Babylonish yokestruggling to free the nations from Babylonish corruption, deceit, and wrath, which is rumcannot but derive the deepest consolation.
I. IT IS A PLEDGE OF DIVINE COOPERATION. For the puny arm of the feeble flock cannot grapple with the great and mighty nation that can compel obedience. But God is above all.
II. IT IS THE SATISFACTION OF THE CHURCH‘S UTMOST DESIRE CONCERNING EVIL. For it is its uttermost destruction. The Church is ever to be comforted by the assured hope of the conquest of all evil.
III. IT IS THE ASSURANCE OF THE CHURCH‘S FINAL DELIVERANCE FROM ALL OPPOSING AND OPPRESSING POWER. And as such
IV. IT IS THE TRUEST ENCOURAGEMENT OF THE CHURCH TO “PATIENCE“to “keep the commandments of God,” and to the maintenance of “the faith of Jesus.”R.G.
Rev 14:9-12
Punishment.
The punishment threatened upon the worshippers of “the beast and his image” is represented by imagery of the most truly awful character. What that “beast” is, what is “his image,” and what his “worship,” are points not to be left in uncertainty; while the terrible denunciations of wrath must stand as an effectual warning against any such homage. “The beast” here must represent the utmost spirit of evilfoul, filthy sin. It stands in opposition to the Lamb, the embodiment of all purity. It is the antagonist, the opposer of all good, whether ideally considered, or as found embodied in Satanthe devil. It is the antithesis of holiness; it is an active opposition also to all holiness; it is an active opposition to God. The “image” may be any form which this essential evil, this anti-righteous spirit, may assume. The “worship” of such a spirit implies submission to it; an affirmation of its supremacy and worthiness and power; a giving honour to the beastthe honour due to God. What a signal of unfaithfulness, of corruption, of sin! As such it is punishable with the utmost punishment. The figures in which this awful punishment is represented indicate the keenest severity of suffering. As the worship of the beast indicates the utmost devotion to sinfulness, so the punishment threatened denotes the utmost suffering. It includes
I. THE DIREST EXPRESSION OF THE DIVINE DISPLEASURE. The worshipper shall “drink of the wine of the wrath of God.”
II. THE INFLICTION OF DIRECT PERSONAL SUFFERING. “He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone.”
III. AN ESPECIAL AGGRAVATION OF THE SUFFERING. It is endured in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb.
IV. IT IS A STATE OF CEASELESS DISTURBANCE. “They have no rest day nor night.”
V. IT IS UNENDING. “Forever and ever.” Let any read this, and say if the consequences of devotion to evil are not in the highest degree dreadful.R. G.
Rev 14:13
The blessedness of the departed faithful.
If the threatenings of judgment upon the worshippers of the false are motives to patience and fidelity, how much more is the promise of a blessed reward! Between these two the tried and persecuted Christian disciple is hedged in. This blessedness is
(1) assured by the heavenly proclamation: “a voice from heaven.” It is
(2) confirmed by the Spirit’s testimony: “Yea, saith the Spirit.” It is
(3) promised to them who are spiritual: “in the Lord.” It is
(4) the reward of fidelity maintained to the end of life: they “die in the Lord.”
The reward is
(1) a state of felicity: “blessed” are they.
(2) It consists in a state of repose after toil, danger, and exposure: “They rest from their labours.”
(3) It is exhibited as the consequence of and acknowledgment of their diligent, obedient labour: “Their works follow with them.”
Here is the encouragement to
(1) self denial;
(2) patient labour;
(3) undying devotion.R.G.
Rev 14:14-20
Judgment again represented.
In the spirit of the former words, and as a further confirmation of them, the process of judgment is again set forth under fresh images. So is consolation borne to the suffering and afflicted Church, and warning and admonition dealt out to the ungodly. Under the imagery of a harvest and of the gathering of the vintage, the certainties of the threatened judgment and the promised blessedness are set forth. The afflicted, down trodden, despised Church must here see mighty motives urged upon it to maintain a steadfast faith and hope and patience. This vision declares
I. THE FINAL CESSATION OF THE CHURCH‘S SUFFERING. Her warfare may be long continued. Generation after generation of believers may be called upon to suffer, but an end is appointed. It will be proclaimed: “The hour to reap is come.” The life of “earth “ever the symbol of that which stands in opposition to the heavenlieshas been patiently borne through much long suffering. But this is at an end”the harvest of the earth is over ripe.” The command is issued, “Send forth thy sickle, and reap.”
II. THE GATHERING OF A HARVEST HAS THE PREVAILING CHARACTER OF GRACIOUSNESS. It is the ingathering of that which sprang from “the seed” which “is the Word;” and, in our view, indicates the gathering for the heavenly garner.
III. THE FIGURE OF THE VINTAGE IS RESERVED FOR THE EXPRESSION OF THE WRATH OF GOD. “Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel?… I have trodden the wine press alone.” Here it is distinguished as “the great wine press of the wrath of God.” No such designation is given to the wheat harvest. In this, then, we are to see the final judgment upon the wicked. Thus are set before us both the ingathering of the holythe harvest waiting for which “the husbandman” has had “long patience,” and the ingathering or crushing of the wicked. “Terrible,” indeed, “is he in his doings to the children of men.”R.G.
HOMILIES BY D. THOMAS
Rev 14:1-5
The supersensuous heaven of humanity.
“And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the Mount Zion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven,” etc. May we not regard these verses as a pictorial representation of the supersensuous heaven of humanity? If so, the following facts are suggested concerning the unseen realm of the good or the Christly.
I. IT IS A SCENE IN WHICH CHRIST IS THE CENTRAL FIGURE. “And I looked [saw], and lo [behold], a [the] Lamb stood [standing] on the Mount Zion” (Rev 14:1). No one acquainted with the Scriptures needs to ask who the Lamb is. Christ is the “Lamb of God.” Why is Christ called “the Lamb”? Is it because of his innocence, or because of his moral and sacrificial character, or both? Morally he was innocent as a lamb, “holy, undefiled.” “He did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth.” Or is it on account of his sacrifice? He was, indeed, a sacrifice; his whole being was a sacrifice. There have been those who have answered these questions to their own satisfaction, and there are now those who render replies without hesitation or doubt. I cannot. My eyes are too dim to penetrate into the rationale of Divine operations. What seems clear is that Christ is the central Figure in man’s heaven. He stands on the citadel on which all eyes are fastened, and to which all hearts point and all sympathies flow.
II. IT IS A SCENE INTERESTINGLY POPULATED.
1. The population is very numerous. “An hundred forty and four thousand” (Rev 14:1). This I take to be a definite number used to represent an indefinite multitudea “multitude which no man could number.” The dreamer being a Jew, his visions are, of course, full of Jewish facts and sentiments. Hence he thinks of the Jewish scene of worship, Zion, and the Jewish tribes, incalculably numerous. To us, however, all these are mere illustrations of things higher, more important, and lasting. The human tenants in heaven were in number beyond calculation in the days of John, and they have been multiplying ever since.
2. The population is divinely distinguished. “His Father’s name written in their foreheads” (verse 1). Men glory in things that are supposed to distinguish them advantageously from their fellow menthe attractions of physical beauty, the glitter of wealth, the pomp of power; but the greatest of all distinctions, the grandest and highest, is to have the name of the great Father manifest in our liveswritten on our very “foreheads.”
(1) It is the most beautiful distinction. The face is the beauty of man; there the soul reveals itself sometimes in sunshine and sometimes in clouds. The beauty of the face is not in features, but in expressions, and the more it expresses of purity, intelligence, generosity, tenderness, the more beautiful it is. How beautiful, then, to have God’s name radiating in it! God’s name is the beauty of the universe.
(2) It is the most conspicuous distinction. “In their foreheads.” It is seen wherever you go, fronting every object you look at. Godliness cannot conceal itself. Divine goodness is evermore self revealing. As the face of Moses shone with a mystic radiance when he came down from the mount after holding fellowship with God, so the lives of all godly men are encircled with a Divine halo.
(3) It is the most honourable distinction. A man sometimes feels proud when he is told he is like some great statesman, ruler, thinker, reformer. But how transcendently honourable is it to bear in our face the very image of God! Let us all seek this distinction. With the Father’s “name in our foreheads” we shall throw the pageantry of the shahs, the emperors, and all the kings of the earth into contempt.
3. The population is rapturously happy. “And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of [the voice which I heard was the voice of] harpers harping with their harps: and they sang [sing] as it were a new song” (verses 2, 3). All souls yonder run into music! Here is music loud as booming billows, pealing thunders, and melodious as the enrapturing strains of the harp. How mean and unworthy are men’s views of religious music. “Let us sing to the glory and praise of God,” says the leader of public worship. And forthwith a whole congregation breaks into sound. And if the sound is regulated by the harmonious blending of notes, the production is called a “Service of Song;” and more, alas! is made an article of trade. Large incomes are made by the sale of such music. Can such be the music of heaven? Nay. True music is the harmony of soulsouls moving ever in accord with the Supreme Will. True music consists not in blending of sounds, whether vocal or instrumental, however charming to the senses, but in sentiments unuttered, perhaps unutterable, yet entrancing to conscience and pleasing to God.
4. The population is redemptively trained. “No man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed [purchased] from the earth” (verse 3). Heaven, it has been said by men of old, is a prepared place for a prepared people. It is verily so. Observe:
(1) Man requires training for heaven.
(2) Redemption is the method of training for heaven.
(3) Earth is the scene of this redemptive training.
5. The population is spotlessly pure. “These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins” (verse 4). There are those of our race who have never fallen, who have retained their virgin innocence, who required no pardon for their sins, nor regeneration. What millions of the human population die in their infancy, and go on unfolding their faculties and invigorating their strength through indefinite ages, in scenes of absolute holiness and infallible intelligence! They were not “redeemed from the earth;” such redemption they required not. From the dawn of their being they were ushered into the realms of immaculate purity and perfect bliss.
6. The population is absolutely loyal. “These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth” (verse 4). All follow the Lamb, the Christ of God. Two words, “Follow me,” embody at once the whole duty and perfect Paradise of souls. “Whithersoever he goeth.” He is always moving. “The Father worketh hitherto, and I work.” We cannot do exactly what he does, but we can imbibe that spirit which inspires him in all he does. Would I become a great painter? then how shall I proceed? If I copy the exact style and method of one of the greatest masters of the art, I shall only become a mere mechanic in the profession, never an artist. But if I catch the genius of the great master, I may, peradventure, leave him behind, and win a place and a distinction all my own. Let us catch the moral genius of Christ
7. The population is incorruptibly truthful. “In their mouth was found no guile [lie]: for they are without fault before the throne of God [they are without blemish]” (verse 5). No lie! How unlike us! The social atmosphere of our world teems with lies as with microbes. Lies in parliaments, in markets, in Churches. The whole world teems with impostors. What a blessed world must that be where all is truth and reality!D.T.
Rev 14:3
Man training for the supersensuous heaven.
“No man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.” The subject of these words is man training for the supersensuous heaven. Notice
I. HEAVEN REQUIRES HIS TRAINING. “No man could learn that song.” Man cannot blend in the happy harmony of the celestial state without previous training. Analogy would suggest this. In the physical system every being is fitted to his position, his organism is suited to his locality. These bodies of ours, as now constituted, could probably live in no other planet than this. In the social system the same principle of fitness is required. The stolid clown could not occupy the professor’s chair, nor could he who is reckless concerning law, right, and order occupy the bench of justice. It is just so in relation to heaven. To feel at home in the society of the holy, cheerfully to serve the Creator and his universe, and to be in harmony with all the laws, operations, and beings in the holy empire, we must manifestly be invested with the same character. But what is the training necessary?
1. Not mechanical. Ceremonial religion enjoins this.
2. Not intellectual. Theological training may be conducive, but it is not sufficient.
3. It is moralthe training of the spiritual sympathies, the heart being brought to say, “Thy will be done.” No one can “sing the song,” blend in the harmonious action of heaven, without this. A man with corrupt sympathies could never sing in heaven; he would shriek. In the midst of happy myriads he would be alone. His darkness would conceal from him the outward sun; his inner flashes of guilt would change for him the God of love into a “consuming fire.”
II. REDEMPTION IS THE CONDITION OF HIS TRAINING. “Those who were redeemed from the earth.” The redemption here referred to is evidently that procured by the love of Christ. The training requires something more than education; it needs emancipation, the deliverance of the soul from certain feelings and forces incompatible with holinessa deliverance from the guilt and power of evil. The grand characteristic of Christianity is that it is a power to redeem from all evil. No other system on earth can do this.
III. THE EARTH IS THE SCENE OF HIS TRAINING. “Redeemed from the earth.” The brightest fact in the history of the dark world is that it is a redemptive scene. Amidst all the clouds and storms of depravity and sorrow that sweep over our path, this fact rises up before us a bright orb that shall one day dispel all gloom and hush all tumult. Thank God, this is not a retributive, but a redemptive scene. But it should be remembered that it is not only a redemptive scene, but the only redemptive scene. There is no redemptive influence in heavenit is not required. A wonderful world is this! True, it is but a spark amidst the suns of the universea tiny leaf in the mighty forests! Let the light be quenched and the leaf be destroyed, their absence would not be felt. Still it has a moral history the most momentous. Here Christ lived, laboured, died. Here millions of spirits are trained for heaven. What Marathon was to Greece, and Waterloo to Europe, this little earth is to the creation. Here the great battles of the spiritual universe are fought. It is the Thermopylae of the creation.D.T.
Rev 14:6-8
The dissemination of good, and the destruction of evil.
“And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation,” etc. In these verses two subjects are suggested
I. THE DISSEMINATION OF GOOD. The good here is called “the everlasting [eternal] gospel” (Rev 14:6).
1. The gospel in itself is good. It is at once the mirror and the medium of eternal good. It contains and communicates to man that which reflects the Divine character and constitutes the heaven of souls. “Everlasting”eternal. Good is eternal. Unlike evil, it never had a commencement, and. will never have an end; it is as old as God himself.
2. The gospel in its ministry is good. “And I saw another angel fly [flying] in the midst of [mid] heaven” (Rev 14:6). It comes from heaven and is conveyed by heavenly messengers to men. Angels are so interested in this gospel that they speed their flight through mid heaven bearing its blessed message.
3. The gospel in its universality is good. “Having the everlasting [eternal] gospel to preach [proclaim] unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred [tribe], and tongue, and people” (Rev 14:6). It overleaps all geographical boundaries, all tribal, national, linguistic distinctions, and addresses man as man.
4. The gospel in its purpose is good. “Saying with a loud voice [he saith with a great voice], Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters” (Rev 14:7). The supreme aim of the gospel is to induce all men to worship him who made heaven, earth, and sea. Man is made for worship. There is no instinct in the soul deeper, stronger, more operative; there is no service for the soul more worthy, nay, so worthy and so blest, as that of worship. Worship is the Paradise of souls.
II. THE DESTRUCTION OF EVIL. “And there followed another angel [another, a second angel, followed], saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen [fallen, fallen is Babylon], that great city [the great], because she [which hath] made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication” (Rev 14:8). I take Babylon here as standing, not for the capital of Syria, not for Rome, either pagan or papal, nor for the site, the masonry, the institutions, or the populations of any city that ever has been or ever will be, but as representing the spirit of evil that moulded and mastered the old metropolis of Assyria. Babylon to me stands as the mighty aggregation of all the moral evils at work throughout all society in all the metropolises of the universe. This aggregation of evil is what Paul calls “the world.” Two remarks are suggested.
1. This aggregation of evil must fall. Babylon must tumble into dust. The colossal image will not only be smashed into atoms by the “little stone” of truth, but every particle will be borne away by the winds of Divine influence, so that “no place will be found for it.” Faith is to overcome the world.
2. This aggregation of evil falls as the good advances. The gospel having been proclaimed to every “nation,” and “tongue,” and “people,” and all brought to worship him that made heaven and earth, Babylon totters, crumbles, and rots. The gospel destroys the spirit of evil, and its forms fall to pieces. You may destroy the forms of evil in the habits and institutions of the world, but unless the spirit is extinguished you have done no good. Burn up Rome, but if its spirit remains it will grow and work, and produce, perchance, forms more hideous and oppressive. No pontiff that ever occupied the papal chair has ever had more popery in his nature than can be found in many a Protestant clergyman, ay, and in many a Nonconformist minister too.
CONCLUSION. Would you have Babylon to fall? Then speed on the gospel; not the gospel of sects or of creeds, but the gospel of the evangelists.D.T.
Rev 14:6
An ideal preacher.
“And I saw another angel,” etc. It is legitimate, and it may be useful, to look at these words as symbolizing the ideal preacher. Looking at them in this light, we observe concerning the ideal preacher
I. HIS THESE IS GLORIOUS. “The everlasting gospel.” Observe:
1. It is a gospel. That is “good news,” or “glad tidings.” It is a message, not of Divine partiality or Divine wrath to the world, but of Divine lovethe love of the great Father for his fallen children.
2. It is an ever enduring gospel. Everlasting:
(1) Because its elementary truths are absolute. These truths are the existence of God as Maker and Manager of the universe; the obligation of all moral beings to love him supremely because of his supreme goodness, etc. These are mere specimens of the truths that abound in the gospel, and as such they cannot die out, they must continue as the laws of nature. Continue, not only amidst all the revolutions of time, the discoveries of true science, but amidst all the cycles of eternity.
(2) Because its redemptive provisions are complete. Its special mission is to effect man’s restoration to the knowledge, image, and enjoyment of his Maker. It has all the elements and the powers for the purpose, Nothing is lacking, nothing can be added to it. It is complete. It is everlasting in the sense that the sun is everlasting, because it contains all that the centre of the planetary system requires to fulfil its purpose. Thus it contains the things that cannot be moved.
3. It is a world wide gospel. “To preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people.” This means that it is not for a sect or a class, but for humanity. It is for man as man, irrespective of his colour, his country, his character.
(1) It is a necessity to all mankind. It is the supreme necessity of unregenerate mankind the world over and the ages through. If a man is to be happy, he must have it. It is not merely adapted to him, it is essential to him.
(2) It is equal to all mankind. It is not like a feast, prepared for so many and no more; it is more like a perfect piece of music, having in it an exhaustless powera power as capable of charming all souls as one, pouring its thrilling and inspiring influence over all lands, down through all times with unabated power Such, then, is the theme which the ideal preacher has to propound; not the speculations of the theologists or the crotchets of the sect, not the crudities of his own brain, but the “everlasting gospel.” What a sublime mission!
II. THAT HIS MOVEMENTS ARE EXPEDITIOUS. “Fly in the midst of heaven.” He is to move, not like the ordinary terrestrial beings on the earth, but rather like the swift fowls of the airimpulses excited, eyes dilated, pinions expanded, darting on their ethereal way. It is characteristic of an ideal preacher that he is expeditious. He is not a drone; he is on fire. lie is “instant in season and out of season,” like his great Original; he worketh while it is “called today,” knowing “the night cometh when no man can work.” Why thus expeditious?
1. The message is urgent. The world is guilty; it bears pardon. The world is diseased, about dying; it bears elements of life. The world is enthralled a captive of the arch enemy of the universe; it bears liberty.
2. The time is short. Short, when compared not merely with a future life, but with the work necessary to be done. There is not a moment to spare. “Today, saith the Spirit.” The Spirit knows the urgency of the work, and the time necessary for its fulfilment.
3. Life is uncertain. Uncertain both for the preacher and for his hearers. “Boast not thyself of tomorrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.” Hence the necessity of this expeditious movement.
III. THAT HIS SPHERE IS ELEVATED. “Fly in the midst of heaven,” or “in mid heaven.” It is the characteristic of all truly regenerated men that they are not of the flesh, but of the Spirit; that they set their “affections on things above;” that though “in the world,” they are “not of the world;” that they live in heavenly places. All these representations mean that they live and move on a level high up and distinct from the level on which worldly men live and work. Like Christ, they have “meat to eat” that the world knows nothing of. They are “separate from sinners.” This is preeminently the case with the ideal preacher, he moves above the highest; he does not mind earthly things; uninfluenced by worldly motives, despising worldly aims and fashions, towering like an angel above them all. Ah me! how different this ideal to the actual conventional preachers! Do they mow through mid heaven? Do they not rather crawl on the earth, trade even in the gospel, and make gain of godliness”? The great reason why preaching is so ineffective now is because we preachers move not in this elevated sphere, but are down with the common herd in spirit.
CONCLUSION. Such, then, is the ideal preacher, and all Church history shows that the men who have approached nearest to this ideal have achieved the greatest victories for soulsPaul, Augustine, Savonarola, Tanner, Whitefield, Wesley, etc.D.T.
Rev 14:9-12
Soul prostitution and soul loyalty.
“And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, 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,” etc. In this part of John’s wonderful mental vision, or dream, on the island of Patmos, we can find illustrations of two great subjects.
I. SOUL PROSTITUTION. “And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud [great] voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive [receiveth] his mark in his forehead, and in his hand,” etc. (verse 9). The “beast and his image.” What meaneth this? Does it mean some king or pope? Or some great wrong institution, civil or religious? No one knows, and it matters not. I take the expression as a symbol of wrong in its spirit and forms. Two things are suggested in connection with this.
1. That the prostitution of the soul to wrong is an alarming crime. Here is a warning. “The angel followed, saying with a loud voice.” Amongst the teeming populations of this earth there is nothing more terrible and alarming than to see human souls made in the image of God, rendering a practical devotion of all its spiritual powers to the morally unworthy, “the world, the flesh, and the devil;” because, according to a law of mind, the object of the soul’s devotion transfigures it into its own character. Hence the human spirit gets buried in the fleshly, absorbed in the selfish and the worldly. Thus everywhere we find minds that should expand into seraphs sinking into grubs, worshipping the “beast;” sordid sycophants, not soaring saints; the miserable creatures, not the mighty masters of circumstances.
2. That the prostitution of the soul to wrong always incurs lamentable suffering. It is said, “The same [he also] shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture [prepared unmixed] into the cup of his indignation [anger]; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb” (verse 10). The metaphors here are borrowed from the sacred books of the Hebrew people, and they convey the idea of suffering of an alarming kind, suggesting:
(1) A consciousness of Divine antagonism. “Wine of the wrath of God.” In the sense of malignant passion there is no wrath in him who is Love. But it is a psychological tact that the man who suffers because he has done another an injury, has a consciousness that the one he has offended is angry with him, and this consciousness is the chief element in his suffering.
(2) A sense of intense agony. “Shall be tormented with fire and brimstone.” Brimstone adds intensity to the heat and fury to the flames of fire. “My punishment is greater than I can bear,” said Cain. A guilty conscience has its Tartarus or Gehenna within itself.
(3) A state of constant restlessness. “They have no rest day nor [and] night” (verse 11). There is no rest in sin. “The wicked are like the troubled sea.” A guilty soul under a sense of sin is like Noah’s dove fluttering over tumultuous billows.
II. SOUL LOYALTY. “Here is the patience of the saints” (verse 12). “The meaning here,” says Moses Stuart, “is either thus: here then in the dreadful punishment of the wicked every Christian may see of what avail his patience and obedient spirit and faith in Christ are; or here is a disclosure respecting the wicked which is adapted to encourage a patient endurance of the evils of persecution, and a constancy in obedience to the Divine commands and to the Christian faith.” What is patience? It is not insensibility. Stone people are lauded for their patience who should be denounced for their stoicism and indifference. Patience implies at least two things.
1. The existence of trials. Where the path of life is all smooth, flowery, and pleasant, where all the winds of life are temperate, bright, and balmy, where all the echoes of life are free from discordant notes, and beating the sweetest melodies, where, in fact, life is entirely free from trial, there is no room for patience. Patience lives only in difficulty and danger, in storms and tempests.
2. The highest mental power. Man’s highest power of mind is seen, not in unsurpassed mechanical inventions, or the sublimest productions of art, not in the most baffling and confounding strategies of bloody war, hell’s own creation, but in the successful effort to govern all the impulses and master all the boisterous passions of the human soul. “The Lord is slow to anger, and great in power.” This is a remarkable expression. It seems as if the Prophet Nahum meant that God is slow to anger because he is great in power; if he had less power he would be less patient. A man may be slow to auger and slow to deal out vengeance because he lacks power to do so. But God is slow to anger because he has abundance of power. His power of self control is infinite. Truly does Solomon say, “He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.” The greater the sinner and the greater the sneak, the better able to take cities; but it requires the greatest man to govern his own soul.
“Be patient, oh be patient! Put your ear against the earth,
Listen there how noiselessly the germ of the seed has birth;
How noiselessly and gently it upheaves its little way,
Till it parts the scarcely broken ground, and the blade stands up in day!
“Be patient, oh be patient! The germs of mighty thought
Must have their silent undergrowth, must underground be wrought.
But as sure as there’s a power that makes the grass appear,
Our land shall be green with liberty, the blade time shall be here.
“Be patient, oh be patient! Go and watch the wheat ears grow,
So imperceptibly that ye can mark nor change nor throe,
Day after day, day after day, till the ear is fully grown.
And then again, day after day, till the ripened field is brown.
“Be patient, oh be patient! Though yet your hopes are green,
The harvest fields of freedom shall be crowned with sunny sheen;
Be ripening, be ripening, mature your silent way,
Till the whole bread land is tongued with fire on freedom’s harvest day.”
(R. C. Trench.)
D.T.
Rev 14:13
Heaven’s description of the satiated dead.
“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.” Here is a voice from heaven. Voices from earth are plentifulthey load our air and din our ears. We have voices from the markets and voices from the Parliament, voices from the Church and voices from the college, voices on every subject and in every key. They are contradictory and unsatisfactory; they solve not the deepest problems of the soul. Thank God, there is a voice from heavenlet us listen to it. It comes from infallibility itself; and teaches the most momentous questions of interest and destiny. Notice
I. HEAVEN‘S DESCRIPTION OF THE CHARACTER OF THE SAINTED DEAD. “Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord.” Their character was that of vital union with Christ. The Scriptures represent this union by a great variety of figure. It is compared to the union of a building with its foundation stoneits existence depends upon it; to that of the branch and the vineits strength, foliage, fruit, life, of the one depend upon the sap it derives from the other; to that of the spirit and the bodythe former being the source of animation, the impulse of activity, and the guide of the movements of the latter. These figures confessedly indicate a union the most close and the most vital. This union may include two things.
1. Their existence in his affections. We live in the hearts of those who love us. Children do thoroughly live in the affections of their loving parents, that they control their plans and inspire their efforts. Because the child lives in the heart of the affectionate parent, the parent lives and labours for his child. In this sense Christ’s disciples live in him; they are in his heart; he thinks upon them, he plans for them, he works for them, he causes “all things to work together for good.”
2. Their existence in his character. Without figure, we live in the character of those we admire and love. Arnold’s most loyal pupils live in his character now. They see their old master in their books, and hear him in their sermons. Christ is the grand Object of their love, and the chief subject of their thought, and to please him is the grand purpose of their life. As loving children identify themselves with all that pertains to their parents, so they feel a vital interest in all that relates to the cause of Christ. This Paul felt. “I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.” This character implies two things.
(1) A moral change. Men are not born in this state. “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature.” The change is so great that the man must be conscious of it.
(2) A judicial change. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.” Their sins are pardoned, their iniquities are forgiven; they “have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Such is the character of the sainted dead as here described. “They die in the Lord.”
II. HEAVEN‘S DESCRIPTION OF THE CONDITION OF THE SAINTED DEAD. “Blessed are the dead.”
1. Their blessedness is in rest from all trying labour. Not rest from work, for work is the condition of blessedness; but from all trying labour, all anxious toil, all wearying, annoying, irritating, fruitless toil.
(1) Rest from all trying labour pertaining to our physical subsistence. By the sweat of our brow here we have to eat bread. Not so yonder.
(2) Rest from all trying labour pertaining to intellectual culture. How much trying labour is there here to train our faculties and to get knowledge! “Much study is a weariness of the flesh.” Not so yonder.
(3) Rest from all trying labour pertaining to our spiritual cultivation. Here we have to wrestle hard against our spiritual foes, and often have to cry out in the struggle, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” Not so yonder.
(4) Rest from all trying labour to benefit our fellow men. To do good here is a trying work. The ignorance, the callousness, the ingratitude of men whom we seek to help, often distract and pain the heart. Not so yonder. Rest! What a cheering word! It is the couch of the weary traveller; it is the haven for the storm tossed mariner; it is home for the veteran who, after many a battle, has won the victory.
2. Their blessedness is in the influence of their works. “Their works do follow them.” No one act, truly done for Christ and in his spirit will be lost. All good works springing from faith in Christ shall follow the worker into the eternal worldfollow him in their blessed influence upon himself, in the happy results they have produced in others, and in the gracious acknowledgment of God. The moment we appear on the other side, we shall hear the voice addressing us, “Call the labourers, and give them their hire.” We shall then find that the smallest effort is not lost.
3. Their blessedness began immediately after death. “From henceforth, saith the Spirit.” From the moment of death the blessedness begins. This stands opposed to two errors.
(1) That there is an obliviousness of soul until the resurrection; and
(2) that there are purgatorial fires which must follow death. “From henceforth.” “Not from the waking of the soul into consciousness after the sleep of centuries; not from the extinction of purgatorial fires; but from death. “Today shalt thou be with me;” “Absent from the body, present with the Lord.”
4. Their blessedness is vouched by the Spirit of God. “From henceforth, saith the Spirit.” Who declares this blessedness? An erring Church? Not even the highest angel. It is the Spirit. He who knows the present and the future; he who hears the last sigh of every saint on earth, and his first note of triumph. The Spirit saith it. Let us believe it with an unquestioning faith. The Spirit saith it. Let us adore him for his revelation.
This subject speaks:
1. Comfort to the bereaved. Weep not inordinately for the good that are gone. “Sorrow not as those who are without hope.” Your loved ones still live: they “rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.”
2. Courage to the faint. You disciples of the Lord, who feel the journey of life to be trying, the battle to be severe, and feel at all times depressedtake heart; yet a little while all your trials will be over. You shall “rest from your labours; and your works shall follow you.” “Go thou thy way until the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days.”
“I would die my death in Christo;
Breathing in his love, I’m blest;
When this frame to dust returneth,
I shall enter into rest.
In that rest I shall adore him,
In the strains of sacred love,
With the ransomed of all races
Gathered in the heavens above.
Aid me, Lord, to die in Christo
Oh, in Christo let me die!”
(See the ‘Biblical Liturgy.’)
D.T.
Rev 14:14-20
The moral seasons of humanity.
“And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud One sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle,” etc. There are three moral seasons implied in this section of the Apocalyptic vision.
I. THE RIPENING SEASON. “And I looked [saw], and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud One sat like unto the [a] Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle” (Rev 14:14). This language may be taken as an illustration of that supreme Divinity that presides over all the moral seasons of mankind. He is glorious. He is encircled with a “cloud,” dazzling and splendid, he is human. He is “like unto the Son of man.” Supreme Divinity is full of humanity, and humanity is full of God. He is royal. He has “upon his head a golden crown.” He is “the King of kings, and Lord of lords.” He is absolute, he has “in his hand a sharp sickle.” He has the power to put an end to the whole system whenever he pleases; he kills and he makes alive. Such is the Being that presides over our histories, our lives, and destinies. Our world is not left to chance or fate, blind force or arbitrary despotism. There is an intelligent Being over it, all glorious, yet human, royal and absolute. He presides over the ripening season. Months before the sickle is thrust in the ripening has been going on. There are two classes of principles, good and evil, which are seeds growing in all human souls. Both are implanted. Neither of them is inbred. The seed of evil is not constitutional; the seeds of good are almost exterminated by the seeds of sin. “A man sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat.” The spirit of evil implants the one. “An enemy came and sowed tares.” The Son of man implants the other. Both, in all souls, are constantly growing and advancing to ripeness. Although human nature is made for truth and right, it can grow error and wrong. It can develop a false impression or an erroneous sentiment into a upas that shall spread its baneful branches over empires, and poison the heart of ages.
II. THE HARVEST SEASON. “Thrust in [send forth] thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come” (Rev 14:15). All life culminates in maturity. “First the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear.” Growth is but life running into ripeness, the river runs to the ocean. “The harvest of the earth is ripe, the grapes are fully ripe.” In connection with this it is suggested that the harvest is under the direction of a supreme intelligence. “And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud” (Rev 14:15). The angel had no power to snatch the sickle from the Divine hand and employ it. The Divine permission is absolutely necessary; life and death are with him. “There is an appointed time for man upon the earth.” No creature or combination of creatures, however mighty, can abbreviate or prolong the appointed period. There are no premature deaths in human history. Angels, it may be, in countless numbers await his behest. They are reads to strike down when he permits. Death is ever on the wing; silently and stealthily he approaches every human being, and strikes the moment he has permission.
III. THE VINTAGE SEASON. “Thrust in [send forth] thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe” (Rev 14:18). The vintage is a section of the harvest. The vine reaches its maturity and has its harvest, as well as the ears of corn, and the pressing of these grapes is the vintage. Three things are suggested in connection with this vintage.
1. Divine severity. “The great wine press of the wrath of God. And the wine press was trod, ten without the city, and blood came out of the wine press” (Rev 14:19, Rev 14:20). Grapes in the press were usually trodden by the feet of men (see Isa 63:2, Isa 63:3; Lam 1:15). The idea of severity could scarcely fail to be conveyed to the spectator whose feet trampled on the soft, blooming, beautiful grape, so that the juice like its very blood streamed forth. “The wrath of God.” There is no wrath in God but the wrath of love. Divine law is but love speaking in the imperative mood; Divine retribution is but Divine love chastising the child to bring him back to the right and the true.
2. Great abundance. “Blood came out of the wine press, even unto the horse bridles” (Rev 14:20). That is, the juice flowing like a deep river, rising to the very bridles of the horses. Who shall measure the final issues of the moral seasons of humanity?
3. Extensive range. “A thousand and six hundred furlongs” (Rev 14:20)a hundred and fifty miles. A definite number of miles for an indefinite space. The final issue of souls will be as wide as immensity.D.T.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
Rev 14:1. The description of the melancholy state of the church and world, during this third period, in the fore-going chapters, might be apt somewhat to discourage good Christians and the faithful worshippers of God; for though God, by a spirit of prophesy, had before revealed this suffering state to the church, and so it was represented as what the wisdom of the divine Providence thought fit to allow, and what was therefore reconcilable to the goodness and power of the great Governor of the world;yet it was a very useful design of these revelations to subjoin proper principles of consolation and encouragement to such a mournful account of temptation, danger and sufferings. This seems to be the intention of the chapter before us, in whichthe scene of the prophetical vision is changed from earth to heaven, from a view of the church under the persecution of the beast, to a view of the church in the presence of the Lamb, delivered from the state of corruption and oppression so much to be expected from this evil world, and arrived at a state of complete and most perfect religion and happiness in the future world. This vision then representsthe sure destruction of the enemies of truth and righteousness in the end, however they may prevail for a time. It shews the great reward of the faithful and the dreadful punishment of the apostate in the day of trial. Thus this part of the prophesy unites the strongest principles of warning, caution, encouragement, and hope, than which nothing could be more proper or useful for the church in such a state of providence; or more suitable to the general design of the whole prophesy, which is to encourage the constancy and patience of the saints in all their trials. When we consider the present chapter in this view, it will shew a moreeasy, natural, and proper connection between this vision and the foregoing than is generally observed; and make the whole plan and design appear more regular than it is usually thought to be. Such is Mr. Lowman’s opinion of the intention of this chapter. But Dr. Newton, the learned Bishop of Bristol, understands it in a different, and, I think, a very just light.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Rev 14:1-5. I looked, and, lo, a Lamb, &c. After the account of the rise and reign of the beast (says Bishop Newton), the Spirit of prophesy delineates, by way of opposition, the state of the true church during the same period, its struggles and contests with the beast, and the judgment of God upon his enemies. Our Saviour is seen, Rev 14:1 as the true Lamb of God, not only with horns like a lamb, standing on mount Sion, the place of God’s true worship, but with him an hundred forty and four thousand, the same number that was mentioned (ch. Rev 7:4.), the genuine offspring of the twelve apostles apostolically multiplied, and therefore the number of the church, as six hundred and sixty-six is the number of the beast: and as the followers of the beast have the name of the beast, so these have the name of God, and, as some copies add, of Christ, written in their forehead;being his professed servants, and the same as the witnesses, only represented under different figures. The angels and heavenly choir, Rev 14:2-3 with loud voices and instruments of music, sing the same new song, or Christian song which they sung, ch. 5. And no man could learn that song but the hundred forty and four thousand; they alone are the worshippers of the one true God through the one true Mediator Jesus Christ: all the rest of mankind offer up their devotions to other objects and through other mediators. These are they which were not defiled with women, for they are virgins; Rev 14:4. They are pure from all the stains and pollutions of spiritual whoredom or idolatry, with which the other parts of the world are miserably debauched and corrupted. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth; they adhere constantly to the religion of Christ in all conditions and in all places; whether in adversity or prosperity; whether in conventicles and desarts, or in churches and cities. These were redeemed from among men;rescued from the corruption of the world, and are consecrated as the first-fruits unto God and the Lamb; an earnest and assurance of a more plentiful harvest in succeeding times. And in their mouth was found no guile; Rev 14:5. They handle not the word of God deceitfully; they preach the sincere doctrine of Christ; they are as free from hypocrisy as from idolatry; for they are without fault before the throne of God: they resemble their blessed Redeemer, who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth; (1Pe 2:22.) and are, as the apostle requires Christians to be, blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation; Php 2:15. But possibly it may be asked, Where did such a church ever exist, especially before the reformation? And it may be replied, that it has existed not in idea only: history demonstrates, that there have, in every age, been some true worshippers of God, and faithful servants of Jesus Christ: and as Elijah did not know the seven thousand men who had never bowed the knee to Baal, so there may have been more true Christians than were always visible.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Rev 14:1 . , . The formula [3420] marks the unexpected, forcible contrast to the preceding vision. [3421]
. Since the Lamb appears as the leader of the glorified, [3422] not only does the contrast between Christ and Satan, with his dragon-form, stand forth in startling relief; but the form of the Lamb also reminds us that the Lord himself has by his sufferings and death attained the victory, [3423] therefore his people must follow him; and that the redemption of believers (Rev 14:4 ), and their glorification, depend upon the blood of the Lamb. [3424]
. With the abbreviated form of the part., [3425] cf. the inf. , 1Co 10:12 . [3426]
. The failure to acknowledge the proper significance of the entire vision is connected no less with the arbitrary presumption that Mount Zion is to be regarded in heaven, [3427] than with the allegorizing interpretation, according to which Mount Zion is regarded as the Christian Church. [3428] Vitringa unites the reference of the whole to the true Church, [3429] with the correct acknowledgment [3430] that the locality represented in the vision is meant properly. Cf. similar local designations within the vision, which are to be understood with absolute literalness, Rev 14:6 ; Rev 14:14 ; Rev 13:1 ; Rev 13:11 ; Rev 12:1 ; Rev 7:1 . The holy place named, the home of the O. T. and, therefore, also of the N. T. [3431]
Church, is adapted like no other place for that which is displayed to the gazing John. With the Lamb there appear one hundred and forty-four thousand who have the name of the Lamb, and the name of his Father, written on their foreheads. These one hundred and forty-four thousand are, according to the usual conception, [3432] identical with those mentioned in ch. Rev 7:4 . The number is the same; the seal there mentioned on the foreheads may be combined with the names of God which the followers of the Lamb have written on their foreheads; also the place, Mount Zion, appears to apply especially to glorified believers from Israel. But there are weighty reasons for the distinction of the one hundred and forty-four thousand in our text from those named in Rev 7:4 . [3433] [See, for the contrary, Note LIII., p 256, on ch. Rev 7:4 .] 1. If John had wished here to designate those already mentioned in Rev 7:4 , he would have expressed this definitely by the article. Cf. similar retrospective allusions in Rev 14:1 ( .), Rev 14:3 ( ., . ., .). This was the more necessary, because here a particular description of the one hundred and forty-four follows ( , . . .), which could lead to an identity with the sealed only in case it be conceived that the seal had as an inscription the twofold names here designated; a conception which in itself has no difficulty, but is remote therefrom, because the sign of the seal has a designation and significance different from this sign of the name: there the fidelity, not to be affected by the impending trouble, is sealed, while here the name of God expresses the eternal and blessed belonging of believers to their heavenly Lord, [3434] in contrast with those who have made themselves bondsmen of the beast. (Rev 14:9 ; Rev 14:11 ; Rev 13:16 sq.) 2. To this must be added the fact, which may be decisive, that the one hundred and forty-four thousand in our passage, which, according to Rev 14:3 sqq., do not appear at all as from Israel, can be identified with those mentioned in Rev 7:4 , only in case one of the two false conceptions, with respect to ch. 7, [3435] be sanctioned; viz., either that the one hundred and forty-four thousand (Rev 7:4 ) be regarded identical with the innumerable multitude (Rev 7:9 sqq.), or this multitude be regarded as a part of the one hundred and forty-four thousand. But it is rather to be said that in this passage only the schematic number , which as a designation of a mass suits mainly believers out of Israel (cf. Rev 7:4-8 ), is transferred to such as have completed their course, and designates not only the definite description, Rev 14:3 sqq., but especially also the antithesis lying in the entire context to the heathen worshippers of the beast, as those springing from the heathen . [3436] This select band (cf. Rev 14:4 ) appears as such in the holy numerical sign of believers out of Israel; it is contained in the innumerable company, viz., as an .
[3420] Cf. Rev 14:14 ; Rev 6:2 ; Rev 6:5 ; Rev 6:8 .
[3421] Hengstenb.
[3422] Cf. Rev 7:17 .
[3423] Cf. Rev 5:5 sqq., Rev 3:21 .
[3424] Cf. Rev 5:9 , Rev 7:14 , Rev 12:11 .
[3425] Mat 24:15 .
[3426] Winer, p. 75.
[3427] Grot., Eichh., Stern., Zll., Ew., Hengstenb., Ebrard, etc. Especially does Zllig explain: “The highest mountain-like vault of the firmament, which corresponded to Mount Zion, inasmuch as, according to the Israelitic idea, it lay directly beneath the same.”
[3428] Beda, C. a Lap., Calov., etc.
[3429] In Rev 14:1-5 it is stated: “That in a false, there is a true Church” (cf. Laun.).
[3430] De Wette.
[3431] Cf. Rev 12:1 ; Rev 12:17 .
[3432] Grot., Vitr., Beng., Eichh., Heinr., Ew., Zll., De Wette, Rinck, Hengstenb., Ebrard, Gebhardt, Hilgenf., Kliefoth.
[3433] Areth., Laun., C. a Lap., Marck., Bleek, Beitr ., p. 184 sqq.; Neander, History of the Planting and Training , 3d ed., II., p. 543; Volkm. Vitr., already, is vacillating: “The same, or at least those of the same kind.”
[3434] Cf. Rev 3:12 .
[3435] See on that verse.
[3436] It is worthy of note, how decidedly this passage contradicts also the pretended anti-Pauline Jewish Christianity of the author of the Apocalypse.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
SECTION SIXTH
(First Division)
The End-judgment in general. The Judgment of Anger. The Seven Vials of Anger
Rev 14:1 to Rev 16:21
A.THE IDEAL HEAVENLY WORLD-PICTURE OF THE LAST JUDGMENT; THE ANGER-VIALS IN GENERAL
Rev 14:1 to Rev 15:8
1. The solemn Festival of the Elect. The Church Triumphant high above the Anger-Judgments of Earth
1And I looked [saw], and, lo [behold], a [the]1 Lamb stood [standing]2 on the mount Sion, and with him a hundred forty and four thousand, having [ins. his name and]3his Fathers name written in their foreheads. 2And I heard a voice from [ins. the] heaven, as the [a] voice of many waters, and as the [a] voice of a [om. a] great thunder: and [ins. the voice which]4 I heard the voice [om. the voice ins. was as]4 of harpers harping with their harps: 3And they sung [sing] as it were [om. as it were]5 a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts [living-beings], and the elders: and no man [one] could [was able to] learn that [the] song but [except] the hundred and forty and [om. and] four thousand, which 4[that] were redeemed [bought] from the earth. These are they which [who] were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are [are] they which [who] follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth [may go].6 These were redeemed [bought] from among men, being the [om. being theins. a] first-fruits [first-fruit] unto God and to [om. to] the Lamb. 5And in their mouth was [ins. not] found no [om. no] guile [falsehood]: for they are without fault [blameless] before the throne of God [om. before the throne of God].7
2. The Three Angels of the Annunciation of the Final Judgment
a. Announcement of the Final Judgment as the Eternal Gospel
6And I saw another8 angel fly [flying] in the midst of heaven [mid-heaven], having the [an] everlasting gospel [,]9 to preach [declare glad tidings ()] unto10 them that dwell [sit]11 on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred [tribe], and tongue, and people, 7Saying with a loud [great] voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that [who] made [ins. the] heaven, and [ins. the] earth, and the12 sea, and the [om. the] fountains of waters.
b. Announcement of the Final Judgment for the Destruction of Babylon
8And there [om. thereins. another, second13 angel] followed another angel [om. another angel], saying, [ins. Fallen, fallen, is] Babylon [ins. the great]14 is fallen, is fallen, that great city [om. is fallen, is fallen, that great city],14 because she [om. because sheins. who]15 made [gave] all [ins. the] nations [ins. to] drink of the wine of the wrath [anger or rage]16 of her fornication.
c. Announcement of the Final Judgment upon the Wicked
9And the [om. theins. another,]17 third angel followed them,18 saying with a loud [great] voice, If any man [one] worship [worshippeth] the beast [wild-beast] and his image, and receive [receiveth] his [or a] mark in [on] his forehead, or in [on] 10his hand, The same [he also] shall drink of the wine of the wrath [anger] of God, which is [hath been] poured out without mixture into [or mingled unmixed in]19 the cup of his indignation [wrath ()]; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the [om. the]20 holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: 11And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up [om. up] for ever and ever [into ages of ages]: and they have no [not] rest [ins. by] day nor [and by] night, who worship the beast [wild-beast] and his image, and whosoever [if any one] receiveth the mark of his name. 12Here is the patience [endurance] of the saints: [,] here are they that [om. here21 are they thatins. who] keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.
d. Deliverance concerning the Godly
13And I heard a voice from [ins. the] heaven saying unto me [om. unto me]22, Write, Blessed are the dead which [who] die in the Lord from [om. from] henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may [shall] rest23 from their labours; and [for]24 their works do [om. do] follow [ins. with] them.
3. The Three Angels of the Beginning Execution of the Final Judgment
a. The Judgment, or Harvest, of the Earth itself. The Chief Harvest, or the Harvest of the Blessed.
(Mat 3:12 a. Mat 13:43.)
14And I looked [saw] and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat [sitting] like unto the [a] Son of man, having on [upon] his head a golden crown (), and in his hand a sharp sickle. 15And another angel came [ins. forth] out of the temple, crying with a loud [great] voice to him that sat on [the one sitting upon] the cloud, Thrust in [Send forth ()] thy sickle, and reap: for the time [hour] is come for thee [om. for thee]25 to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe 16[has become dry]. And he that sat on [the one sitting upon] the cloud thrust in [cast ()] his sickle on [upon] the earth; and the earth was reaped.
b. The Harvest of Anger, or the Judgment upon the Wicked (Mat 3:12; Mat 13:42).
17And another angel came [ins. forth] out of the temple which is in [ins. the] heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. 18And another angel came [ins. forth] out from [of] the altar, which had [om. which hadins. having]26 power [authority ()] over [ins. the] fire; and cried with a loud cry [great voice] to him that had [the one having] the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in [Send forth] thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are27 fully ripe. 19And the angel thrust in [cast] his sickle into [unto] the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it [om. it] into the great28 winepress of the wrath [anger] of God. 20And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came [ins. forth] out of the winepress, even [om. even] unto the horse [om. horse] bridles [ins. of the horses], by the space [or to the distance] of a thousand and six hundred furlongs [stadia].
See Rev 15:1 ff for more analysis on Revelation 14
Footnotes:
[1]Rev 14:1. [Crit. Eds. give , with . A. B*. C.; it is omitted by P. 1, 28, etc.E. R. C.]
[2]Rev 14:1. Instead of the Rec. , . A. C. [P. 79] give . [B*. gives .E. R. C.]
[3]Rev 14:1. His against the Rec. [Lange reads twice, but only once. Alf., Treg., Tisch., rend with . A. B*. C.; 7, 16, 98, with Lange, omit the second ; P. and 1 read as Rec.E. R. C.]
[4]Rev 14:2. [Alf., Treg., Tisch., read with . A. B*. C.; P. reads, .E. R. C.]
[5]Rev 14:3. The reading of . B*. [P.], etc.; A. C., etc., read . [Tisch., as Lange, omits; Alf. and Treg. bracket.E. R. C.]
[6]Rev 14:4. [Lange and Tisch. (8th Ed.) read with . B*. P.; Lach., Alf., Treg., Tisch. (1859) with A. C. 7, etc.E. R. C.]
[7]Rev 14:5. This clause is wanting in the best codices. [So modern Crit. Eds. with . A. B*. C. P. 1, etc.E. R. C.]
[8]Rev 14:6. [Lange, Treg., Tisch., real with oc. A. C. P., Vulg., etc.; Gb. omits with *. B*.; Alf. brackets.E. R. C.]
[9]Rev 14:6. [The pointing is that of the Vulg., Treg., Lillie, etc.E. R. C.]
[10]Rev 14:6. Codd. A. C. [. P.] give before .
[11]Rev 14:6. [Modern Crit. Eds. give with . B*. C. P. Vulg., etc. Lach. (min.), with A.14, etc.E. R. C.]
[12]Rev 14:7. [Tisch. (8th Ed.) gives with . B*.; Lach. Alf., Treg., Tisch. (1859) omit with A. C. P. 1, etc.E. R. C.]
[13]Rev 14:8. [Crit. Eds. give in acc. with almost all the Codd.E. R. C.]
[14]Rev 14:8. [Modern Crit. Eds. read ; the insertion of is without authorityE. R. C.]
[15]Rev 14:8. In accordance with A. C., etc., . [ is given only by 1 and 36.E. R. C.]
[16]Rev 14:8. [For the rendering anger see Note 29 below. It is, however, exceedingly questionable whether, by reason of its connection with wine and fornication, has not, in this place, a peculiar idiomatic force, and should not be translated rage. See Note 29 below.E. R. C.]
[17]Rev 14:9. In accordance with A. B*. C [P.] etc.
[18]Rev 14:9. [Crit. Eds. generally read with Cypr.; Lange reads with A.E. R. C.]
[19]Rev 14:10. [The E. V. presents the idiomatic, though not the literal, translation of the Greek. Alford remarks: From the almost universal custom of mixing wine with water, the common term for preparing wine, putting it into the cup, came to be ; hence the apparent contradiction in terms here.E. R. C.]
[20] Rev 14:10. [Treg. and Tisch. (8th Ed.) give (without ) with . C. P., etc.; B*. prefixes ; Tisch. (1859), Alt. read with A.E. R. C.]
[21]Rev 14:12. The second is unfounded. [Crit. Eds. omit with . A. B*. C. P. Vulg., etc.: it is given by 1. 7, etc.E. R. C.]
[22]Rev 14:13. [Lach., Alf., Treg., Tisch., omit with . A. B*. C. P. Am., Fuld., etc.; Lange gives it with 1, 28, 36, Clem., etc.E. R. C.]
[23]Rev 14:13. Crit. Eds. give with . A. C. (B*. and 1 also give ); P. gives .E. R. C.]
[24]Rev 14:13. [Lach., Alf., Tree, Tisch. (8th Ed.) give with . A. C. P. Vulg., etc.; Lange and Tisch. (1859) read with B*.E. R. C.]
[25]Rev 14:15. is omitted by the best Codd. [by . A. B*. C. P. Vulg.E. R. C.]
[26]Rev 14:18. The article is omitted by . B*. [P.]; the omission probably originated in an incorrect exegetical apprehension of the passage. [Alf., Treg., Tisch. (8th Ed.), omit; Lach., Lange, and Tisch. (1859) give it with A. C.E. R. C.]
[27]Rev 14:18. The reading , in acc. with B*., etc. The easier reading undoubtedly has more authorities in its favor. But why is this? The question is whether that which is difficult is significant. [Crit. Eds. generally give , with . A. C. P. 1, Vulg., etc.; Tisch. (1859) instead of reads with B*. 7, etc.E. R. C.]
[28]Rev 14:9. The remarkable reading ; the most obvious explanation is that is gen. commun. On the change of gender in the adjective see Winer, De Wette, Dsterd. [The reading is supported by A. B*. C. P. 6, 8, etc.; . 7, etc., give .E. R. C.]
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
SPECIAL DOCTRINO-ETHICAL AND HOMILETICAL NOTES (ADDENDUM)
Section Twelfth
Heavenly World-picture of the Seven Vials of Anger, or the Judgment of Anger in its General Form (embracing the Three Special Judgments upon Babylon, the Beast and Satan.) (Chs. 14, 15)
General.The peculiar sublimity of this section is thoroughly manifest only when it is regarded as representative of the heavenly celebration of Gods anger-judgments on earth, and when its relation to these is recognized in the treatment of it. The dreadful darkness of these judgments, as they here appear, is pure light above,aye, it is there resolved into festal radiance. Above, the measures of Divine anger, ruling, as a holy anger of united love and righteousness, over the wrath of the heathen [nations], and, by its ruling, conducting the latter to the judgment of self-annihilation, are recognized and magnified, in their holiness and gloriousness, to the glory of God and the Lamb.
In the foreground of the whole festal scene stands the Lamb, on the Mount Zion, surrounded by the 144,000 elect, who represent the Church Triumphant. Herein two grand ideas are involved. On the one hand, the Lamb has lifted His heavenly Congregation high above the sphere of anger; and, on the other hand, it is the very righteousness and privilege of the Lamb and His companions by which the wrath of the heathen [nations] is excited, and the holy anger of God at that wrath is superinduced. Here lies the causality of the Vials of Anger.
Next follows a description of the perfect heavenly consciousness of the necessity for these judgments, as well as of the ideal import of themthat at the right time they must needs come as the harvest of the earth, now that the earth is ripe for harvest,ripe for a judgment which will be the final redemption, in virtue of its separation betwixt the wheat and the chaff. This entire description is presented in the form of a grand transaction between six Angels, three of whom are charged with the proclamation of the judgment, whilst the three others have the symbolic execution of it. The two divisions are separated by an intervening voice from Heaven, declaratory of the blessedness of the dead who die in the Lord. The first herald of the judgment proclaims throughout the universe that the imminent judgment will be an eternal Gospel, a Gospel of eternity, for all who give glory to God. As a death-judgment, the judgment is divided into two sections, the first consisting of the judgment upon Babylon the Great, and the second composed of the judgment upon the Beast and its worshippers. These two judgments form two sides of the one general judgment (Rev 14:19-20). The transactions of the three executive Angels likewise fall into two divisions. At the head of the three executive Angels appears the seventh, or rather the first, figure of the entire group, the Man on the white cloud, or the Lamb, again, in another form. As the Father has reserved to Himself the time and the hour of the final judgment, an Angel represents this reservation on the part of the Father, by summoning the One on the cloud to the harvest of the earth. Christ casts His sickle upon the earth, and thus ensues the harvest in the truest sense of the termthe harvest of redemption, of the redeemed. This is followed by the harvest of anger. Thus is unfolded the perfect heavenly consciousness concerning the idea, the purpose, the time and the hour of the judgment of anger.
Next follows Act the Third, the representation of the holy order of the judgment of anger, and its sacred heavenly measures. The Divine clemency which characterizes the judgment itself is expressed first by the fact that it is septenariously divided; secondly, by the execution of the judicial decrees by seven Angels of God; and, thirdly, by the circumstance that the result of the judgment once more appears,the crystal sea, the eternal, new humanity,and that this result is celebrated by a song, in which the song of Moses, or the song of anger, and the song of the Lamb, or the song of love, are united. Worthy of special prominence is the further fact that the Angels go forth from the Temple of the tabernacle of the witness, and thus accord with the ideality of the Divine Lawa truth which is likewise expressed in their holy adornment [clothed in pure and white linen], and in the committal to them of the dispensation of the Divine anger in golden vialsin heavenly measures, determined by Divine faithfulness (see Exeg. Notes).
Special.
[Chs. 14, 15.] Pre-celebration of the anger-judgment in Heaven.
[Rev 14:1-5.] The Church Triumphant: (a) Her stand-point, (b) her centre, (c) her characteristics, (d) her song.Relation of the 144,000 triumphant ones to the 144,000 sealed ones (Revelation 7).The end-judgment as the harvest of the earth.The new Bong: (1) Its newness, (2) its melodies, (3) the singers, (4) the hearers.
[Rev 14:6.] The eternal [everlasting] Gospel as the Gospel of eternity. Or as the eschatological phase of the one principial Gospel.
[Rev 14:8.] Pre-celebration, in Heaven, of the judgment upon Babylon.
[Rev 14:9-11.] Pre-celebration of the judgment upon Antichristianity.
[Rev 14:12.] The patience of the saints, (1) as endurance in persecution, (2) as forbearance from persecution.Great warning against Antichristianity (Rev 14:9-11).
[Rev 14:13.] Blessed are the dead, etc., or the heavenly peace-bell, pealing amid the thunders of judgment.
[Rev 14:14-20.] Gods double harvest on earth: 1. The proper harvest (the sickle); 2. The improper harvest (the wine-press).
Revelation 15 : The heavenly equipment of the seven Angels of Anger in its grand significance: 1. What they effect (Rev 15:2); 2. What they glorify (Rev 15:3); 3. What they bring about (Rev 15:4).
[Rev 15:6.] Forth-going of the judgments of God out of His Temple.The judgments of God in their beauteous heavenly aspect (Rev 15:6-7).
[Rev 15:8.] Sublime veiling of the majesty of God during the time of His judgments on earth, and the import of that veiling.
Starke (Chap. 14.): Christ stands in the midst of His Church, over against Antichristian abominations and cruelties, as a Conqueror (Psa 100:2), and is ready to help His people (Act 7:56).Cramer: The holy Christian Church is not founded upon the sand, but upon a mountain (Psa 68:16), aye, firmer than the seven mountains on which the great city lies (Rev 17:9).
Rev 14:2. This is to be understood of the true confessors of the Churchs doctrine, in which doctrine they, in reference to the corruption of the spiritual Babylon, are emphatic and unanimous. Hence there is ascribed to them a voice of great waters, because with their doctrines they instituted many movements; a voice of a great thunder, which penetrates and shakes all things, indicates the mighty preaching of the Gospel, Mar 3:17; and a voice of harmonious music teaches that all their doctrines beautifully harmonized in Christ, Col 3:16. (All this is, indeed, not yet fulfilled in Protestant theology or the ecclesiastical structures of the Reformation, so far as their outward form is concerned.) This picture is drawn from the service of the Levites in the Old Testament (Psalms 134).
Rev 14:3. It sounded entirely new (as when we hear a new and unknown song, set to a strange and unaccustomed tune), because the faithful bring it with new hearts, and because it tells of new benefits, etc.It is called new in antithesis to the old.Gods praise must be sung in the Church.He who would sing the Gospel song aright, must have a new heart and must have his face set toward God and His Throne.
Rev 14:6. The Angel with the everlasting Gospel. Those who regard this as fulfilled, explain it as follows; This has reference to a remarkable teacher who should reform the Church and purify it in the time of Antichrist; by this Angel, Luther and his associates, who began the Reformation, are intended. Those who regard it as future, explain as follows: The voices of these three Angels pertain to the very last time, etc.
Rev 14:8. This expression is taken from the philters or love-potions of abandoned women, etc.
Rev 14:9. This proves clearly that the Beast cannot be the Harlot, or the Papacy.
Rev 14:13. The ancients carefully distinguished between dying for the Lord and dying in the Lord; the former is peculiar to martyrs, the latter is common to all true Christians. (The distinction, becomes false, however, so soon as it is pressed.)The voice of the Lord which gives command to write, also commands men to read.The tears which flow at the departure of pious persons may be wiped away by the diligent contemplation of the bliss to which they have attained.The Holy Scriptures know of no purgatorial fires; those who have died in the Lord they place, immediately upon their death, in Heaven.
Rev 14:15. And another Angel. Some understand, by this other Angel, the Holy Ghost, Who is sent into the hearts of men and, with strong crying, makes the distress of the faithful known unto Christ.
Rev 14:18. Some regard the Angel mentioned here, as the Holy Ghost.
Rev 14:20. In the grain harvest there is no sign of anger, but, on the contrary, there is mercy in it, for believers who have remained faithful to Jesus under the domination of the Beast, are then gathered into Gods garner because the judgment upon the wicked is at hand (Mat 13:30). The vintage is a harvest of anger, for there is express mention of anger in this connection (Rev 14:19).Rev 15:3. Some apprehend the song of Moses as the Law and the song of the Lamb as the Gospel (in contra-distinction to those who regard the song of Moses as the song of the physical redemption, by means of the passage through the Red Sea, and the song of the Lamb as the song of the spiritual redemption from the spiritual Egypt). True servants of God must unite the song of Moses and that of the Lambthe old and the new.
Sabel (see p. 73): Rev 14:1. He is called the Lambkin [] in antithesis, to the great red Dragon (Rev 12:3) who gave his great authority to the Beast (Rev 13:2), and in antithesis to the Beast itself, which speaks great things and blasphemies (Rev 13:5).
Rev 14:3. No one could learn the song, etc. There are, then, lessons to be learned even in Heaven. That learning will, however, be something different from our more mechanical, discursive learning. Even [in this mortal life] we know the difference between this latter learning and the being taught of God (Joh 6:45).
Rev 14:4. Even on the basis of the Apocalypse a literal interpretation of this passage would be productive of great embarrassment. Such an interpretation would exclude from the 144,000 the Apostles themselvesa thing inconceivable according to Mat 19:28; the brethren of the Lordof whom it is related, 1Co 9:5, that they carried their wives with them on their missionary journeys; and also Philip, one of the deacons, the father of four daughters (Act 21:8-9). There is, moreover, not the slightest indication to be found in the Old Covenant, from the participants in which the nucleus of the heavenly congregation of the first fruits had been gathered, that celibacy was regarded with any favor in Israel. On the contrary, no eunuch, no impotent man, could enter into the congregation of God (Deu 23:1), and only of the future system of salvation was it prophesied that not even the eunuch should be shut out from it (Isa 56:3; see Gen 2:18; Mat 19:4-5; Eph 5:23; 2Co 11:2; 1Ti 4:1-3).The Angel with the everlasting Gospel. This is the Angel of missions, the representative of all missionary labor, both within apostate Christendom and in heathen lands. (Missions are good and great; but the reference here is to a time when missions must have completed their work, and to a new fact, the end-judgment, in its character of a gospel of a blessed eternity, for believers.)
[From M. Henry: Rev 14:13. Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth, etc. They are blessed, 1. In their rest; they rest from all sin, temptation, sorrow, and persecution. 2. In their recompense, their works follow them; they do not go before them as their title or purchase, but follow them as their evidence of having lived and died in the Lord. 3. In the time of their dying, when they have lived to see Gods cause reviving, the peace of the Church returning, and the wrath of God falling upon their idolatrous, cruel enemies.From The Comprehensive Commentary: Rev 14:4. They follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. Through persecutions and tribulations, into obscurity, or into prisons, with self-denial, obedient faith, and patient hope; taking up their cross, and copying His example of meekness, purity and love. (Scott.)From Barnes: Rev 14:3. To appreciate fully the song of Zion; to understand the language of praise; to enter into the spirit of the truths which pertain to redemption, one must himself have been redeemed by the blood of Christ.
Rev 14:11. And they have no rest, day nor night. It will be one of the bitterest ingredients in the cup of woe, in the world of despair, that the luxury of rest will be denied forever, and that they who enter that gloomy prison sleep no more; never know the respite of a momentnever even lose the consciousness of their heavy doom.
Rev 14:13. Blessed are the dead. We should be grateful for any system of religion which will enable us thus to speak of those who are dead; which will enable us, with corresponding feeling, to look forward to our own departure from this world.Which die in the Lord. Not all the dead; for God never pronounces the condition of the wicked who die, blessed or happy. The declaration is confined to those who furnish evidence that they are prepared for heaven. To die in the Lord implies, 1. That they who thus die are the friends of the Lord Jesus. 2. It would seem also to imply that there should be, at the time, the evidence of His favor and friendship. This would apply (1) to those who die as martyrs; and (2) to those who have the comforting evidence of His presence and favor on the bed of death.That they may rest from their labors. In view of such eternal rest from toil, we may well endure the labors and toils incident to the short period of the present life, for however arduous or difficult, it will soon be ended.Their works do follow them. Note here, 1. That all that the righteous do and suffer here will be appropriately recompensed there. 2. This is all that can follow a man to eternity. He can take with him none of his gold, his lands, his raiment; none of the honors of this life, none of the means of sensual gratification. All that will go with him will be his character, and the results of his conduct here; and, in this respect, eternity will be but a prolongation of the present life. 3. It is one of the highest honors of our nature that we can make the present affect the future for good; that by our conduct on earth we can lay the foundation for happiness millions of ages hence.
Rev 14:15. For the time is come for Thee to reap. That is, the harvest which Thou art to reap is ripe; the seed which Thou hast sown has grown up; the earth which Thou hast cultivated has produced this golden grain, and it is fit that Thou shouldst now gather it in.From Vaughan: Rev 14:7. Till a man fears, he can never know hope. The first, call of the everlasting Gospel itself is to fear God and to worship the universal Creator.
Rev 14:11. Some rest not day nor night from praise (Rev 4:8); others rest not day nor night from suffering.
Rev 14:15. As there is a harvest of the earth for good, so also there is a harvest of the soul, an immaturity and a ripeness of the individual Christian.
Rev 14:18. So also there is an individual ripening for the vintage of wrath and judgment.From Bonar: These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. We follow Him here in suffering and service, as we shall follow Him hereafter in glory and joy.]
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
DISCOURSE: 2515
THE FELICITY OF HEAVEN
Rev 14:1-5. And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the Mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Fathers name written in their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps: and they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth. These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the first-fruits unto God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.
A CONSIDERABLE part of the Book of Revelation is yet involved in impenetrable obscurity; though we doubt not but that, when the predictions contained in it shall have been fulfilled, the whole will appear as lucid and intelligible as any other prophecies which have been already accomplished. There are parts however which may be understood by every reader; and which are particularly interesting, on account of the sublime views which they unfold to us of the heavenly state. Indeed in the whole of the inspired volume there will not be found such bright displays of heaven as in this closing part of the sacred canon. The vail seems on many occasions to be drawn aside, as it were, and we are admitted to see and hear all that is taking place in the regions of bliss. The passage before us is of this kind. The Apostle himself was, as it were, caught up into the third heavens, where he saw his adorable Lord and Saviour in the midst of all his redeemed people, and heard the songs with which they proclaimed his praise. His record concerning it will lead me to set before you,
I.
The blessedness of heaven
There the Lord Jesus Christ dwells in the midst of his redeemed people
[Heaven doubtless was the place now opened in vision to the Apostles view: it was Mount Sion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem [Note: Heb 12:22.].
There the Lord Jesus Christ dwells, still retaining in his person all those marks which his murderous enemies inflicted on his sacred body, when he offered himself a sacrifice for the sins of a ruined world. He was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world; and in that sublime character does he yet appear, though seated on his heavenly throne: for in that character he is most glorified in himself, and most endeared to his redeemed people.
Around him stand the myriads of his redeemed. They are called an hundred and forty and four thousand, every tribe of Israel having twelve thousand of its members sealed in their foreheads as Gods peculiar property [Note: Rev 7:4.], and having the Fathers name engraven there as an evidence of their relation to him. But we are not to suppose that there are no more in heaven than the number specified: for they are in reality a multitude that no man can number, out of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues [Note: Rev 7:9.].]
There are they adoring him with unceasing songs of praise
[The song in which they join, though not specified here, is made known to us in a former chapter. It is a new song; because it was unknown to the bright morning stars which were first created, nor could possibly be sung by those who never fell. Hence it is said to be a song which no man could learn, except those who had been redeemed from the earth. Hear the song itself, as reported to us by him who heard it: They sang a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; and hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on earth. He then adds, And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels, round about the throne and the beasts and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing [Note: Rev 5:9-12.]. Here are two things to be noticed; one is, that the song was new; for it could not be sung till the Lamb was slain; and the other is, that the angels are unable to join in the song of the redeemed: for whilst the redeemed celebrate his praises as having been slain for them, and having redeemed them to God by his blood, the angels can only join so far as to acknowledge, that He is worthy to receive the praises that are so offered to him.
This chorus of the redeemed, swelled as it is by the acclamations and amens of all the angelic hosts [Note: Rev 5:13-14.], is as the sound of many waters, and loud as thunder itself: yet is the song so melodious, that every one of the redeemed accompanies it with his harp; for it is the voice of harpers harping with their harps. The music of the temple-service in the days of Solomon must have been grand beyond all that men of this age can conceive: but not Solomon in all his glory could form a conception of that melody which John heard, and which, I pray God, we may be admitted to hear, and join in, to all eternity.
It is said of all this band, that they follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. Whilst they were in this world, they endeavoured to walk in his steps, and to follow him in all his ways; and now they attend upon him through the boundless expanse of heaven, all vying, as it were, with each other in testifying their love and gratitude to their adorable Redeemer. As in the days of old, at the time of Jesuss triumphant entry into Jerusalem, the whole multitude followed him, crying, Hosanna to the Son of David; blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest [Note: Mat 21:9.]; so now in heaven they follow him with similar acclamations, and rest not day nor night from this glorious employment [Note: Rev 4:8.].
Such are the circumstances related by the Apostle: but, to form any idea of the bliss enjoyed by the heavenly hosts, we must ourselves be partakers of it: the language of mortality cannot paint it; nor, if an angel were to come from heaven to describe it, could our feeble apprehensions grasp the mighty theme.]
In relation to this blessedness, the point which more particularly demands our attention is,
II.
The character of those that are admitted to it
This is minutely marked,
1.
In its source
[They have been redeemed from among men. Once they were in bondage even as other men: but God in his mercy delivered them by a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm. Israel when in Egypt were an exact picture of them in their unregenerate state. Their subjection to sin and Satan was entire: nor could they by any means cast off the yoke with which they were bound. But God, in his tender mercy, pitied them; and sent his only dear Son to redeem them; to redeem them, by offering his own soul a ransom for them, and by enabling every one of them for himself to burst his bonds. Thus to Gods sovereign love and mercy must their emancipation be traced in the first instance, and then to the efficacy of the Redeemers blood, and the almighty power of his grace. As Israel were a nation taken out from the midst of another nation for the praise of the glory of his grace, so are all that either are, or shall be, transferred to the heavenly Canaan, a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people, that they may shew forth the praises of him that hath called them out of darkness into his marvellous light [Note: 1Pe 2:9.].]
2.
In its progress
[They are a willing people, though made so in the day of Gods power [Note: Psa 110:3.]: and the very instant that they begin to taste redeeming love, and to experience the mighty working of Gods power on their souls, they offer themselves up to God as first-fruits to God and to the Lamb. The first-fruits of every thing were Gods peculiar portion: nor could any man appropriate them to his own use without being guilty of sacrilege. And such are all who are truly converted unto God [Note: Jam 1:18.]. Under this character then they present themselves to him: they know that they are not their own, but his: and therefore they desire to glorify him with their bodies and their spirits, which are his [Note: 1Co 6:20.]. They account this a reasonable service [Note: Rom 12:1.]; and they engage in it with their whole hearts.
Having consecrated themselves to God, they endeavour to be faithful to their engagements. This is what is meant, when it is said in my text, They were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. It is of spiritual fornication that the Apostle speaks. This is a common figure in the Holy Scriptures. Men are often said to go a whoring after their idols. But the saints in glory have kept themselves from spiritual, as well as from open and outward, idolatry. They have given up themselves to the Lord Jesus Christ, as a virgin betroths herself to her husband [Note: 2Co 11:2.]: and they have kept themselves pure; not transferring to any rival the regards which are due to God alone.
Nor is it from overt acts only that they have abstained, but from unfaithfulness even of thought or desire. They know that God requires the heart: and that the smallest alienation of the affections from him would excite his just resentment. They have therefore laboured to be sincere and without offence before him: and through the grace and mercy of their God they have been preserved blameless [Note: Jude, ver. 24.]: so that in their mouth there was no guile; and they are found without fault before the throne of God.
Here you see the whole Christian life depicted; and the process by which every saint in glory is fitted for his place. The whole work of grace originates with God, and is carried on by God to its final issue. But man is neither an unwilling nor inactive servant in the house of his God. He is aware that he must be meet for the inheritance of heaven before he can possibly enjoy it. This meetness therefore he aspires after, and labours for with all his might: and, through the operation of Gods grace upon his soul, he is fully prepared for glory, being perfected after the Divine image, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile.]
Permit me now to address you all,
1.
As candidates for heaven
[Men who are candidates for earthly honours find that much labour is necessary for the attainment of their object. Be assured then, brethren, that notwithstanding heaven is a free gift of God for Christs sake, yet must it be laboured for as much as if it were altogether the fruit of our own exertions: as it is said, Labour not for the meat that perisheth, but for that which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man will give unto you. And permit me to ask, Is it not worth a whole life of most strenuous exertion? Consider only the representation that has been given of it: is it not desirable to be of that happy number, who are following the Lamb through all the courts of heaven, and with voice and harp ascribing to him all possible glory and praise?
But think of the alternative: think, if you are not admitted there, where will you be, and be to all eternity! There is no middle place between heaven and hell. The idea of purgatory is a mere Popish delusion. As, if you have not the mark of Jehovahs name upon your forehead, you must bear the stamp of Satans children; so if you are not made partakers of the glories of heaven, you must for ever participate in the miseries of hell. See what is spoken but a few verses after my text. 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; and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night. Now though this is spoken primarily of those who enter into the abominations of popery, and bear on their forehead or on their hand the mark of that idolatrous Church, it is true also of all who die in their sins: the persons that are not admitted to the marriage-supper of the Lamb, are cast out into outer darkness, where is weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth for ever. Compare now these states: both those in heaven and those in hell are in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb; but the one, as the monuments of mercy, and joint-heirs of glory; the other, as monuments of vengeance, and heirs of wrath and fiery indignation. Need I then say to you, be diligent to make your calling and election sure? I pray you, consider how many there are who fall short of this inheritance. Of all that came out of Egypt, two only entered the promised land: and the perishing of all the rest in the Wilderness is set forth as an admonition to you, lest you also come short of the promised rest [Note: 1Co 10:1-6. with Heb 3:17 to Heb 4:1.]. I cannot then be too urgent with you on this important subject. I would have you all to succeed in this great enterprise, and so to approve yourselves to your Saviour now, that you may be counted worthy to dwell with him in a better world.]
2.
As expectants of it
Strange it is that every one conceives heaven to be his portion, though he never in the whole course of his life made one effort to obtain it. But, beloved brethren, you have already heard the character of those who are in heaven; and that to those only will heaven be assigned. Inquire then whether you have attained this character? What have you experienced of that great work, the work of redemption? Have you been delivered from the yoke of sin and Satan? Have you been brought out from an ungodly world, as the Israelites were from Egypt; and are you living like them under the guidance and government of Jehovah? Does your conscience bear witness for you, that you have presented yourselves to him as the first-fruits, desiring to be wholly and altogether his? When have you so surrendered up yourselves to him? Do not imagine that your dedication to him in baptism, or in any other public ordinance, is any evidence of your having personally fulfilled this duty, unless you are yet in the habit of renewing that dedication of yourselves to him in secret from day to day. And, supposing that you have given yourselves to him, have you been faithful to your engagements, so that in the last day, when the time for your everlasting union with the heavenly Bridegroom shall come, we may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ? Have the world and the flesh so far lost their ascendant over you, that you no longer comply with their solicitations, or yield to their temptations? Finally, Can the heart-searching God attest, that, as far as respects any wilful sin, you are blameless and harmless, and shining as lights in the midst of a dark world? These things are indispensably necessary to any well-grounded expectation of the heavenly glory: and if, whilst destitute of these essential marks, you buoy up yourselves with the hopes of heaven, you do but deceive your own souls to your eternal ruin. I even appeal to yourselves: would you who have never touched a harp be able at a moment to accompany with it a band of music, and to join harmoniously in the sublimest strains? How then shall you, if undisciplined and unprepared, accompany the heavenly hosts in all their songs of praise? Their song, as you have before heard, is one which none but the sealed can learn: and were you admitted there in an unconverted state, your harp would yield nothing but discordant sounds, nor would a single note of your voice be in unison with the heavenly choir.
But I would hope and trust, that there are many here who on good grounds are expecting a portion among the saints in light. To such then I would say, Press forward, forgetting the things which are behind, and reaching forward to that which is before. And, if at any time the thought occur to your mind, Can such a sinner as I be saved? then look into heaven, and see who there are already around the throne: do you not see there a Manasseh, a Mary Magdalen, a dying thief, and a whole host from the Church at Corinth [Note: 1Co 6:10-11.]? Then there can be no reason for you, or any other person, to despond. Only seek to be interested in the redemption that Christ has wrought out for you, and every thing else will follow. Through him you shall be justified; through him you shall be sanctified; through him you shall be presented unto God without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, yea, as holy and without blemish: for to all who seek acceptance through him, he is made of God, wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
CONTENTS
We have here a most beautiful View of Christ, as a Lamb standing on Mount Zion, his Church, and with him a blessed Company of his Redeemed. An Angel is seen as flying in the Midst of Heaven. Another is heard, declaring the Fall of Babylon. Here is the Harvest of the Earth, and the Vintage, and Wine Press of the Wrath of God.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
(1) And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads. (2) And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps: (3) And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth. (4) These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. (5) And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.
This Chapter opens, with presenting a most interesting view to the Apostle’s mind, to relieve him from the awful scenes he had in the preceding Chapter been exercised with. The reign of antichrist for the long period of twelve hundred and sixty days, or prophetical years, could not fail of having much depressed John’s spirits. The Lord, therefore, here gives him a most lovely prospect of the Church. He looked, and beheld the same Lamb which had so often been seen by him in those visions, and now saw standing on Mount Zion, his Church; and encircled with his sealed ones, having his Father’s name in their foreheads. There were many sweet mercies included in this view. As first, Jesus still appeared to the Apostle, in his personal glory as the Lamb, as if to intimate the everlasting sameness of his Mediator-character, and the everlasting efficacy of his blood and righteousness. No time, no, nor eternity itself, can make any alteration in Jesus, as Jesus. For although, when all the great purposes of Christ s mediation in the kingdom of grace shall be accomplished, and the last elect child of God is brought home to the Lord, the Lord Jesus it is said, will deliver up the kingdom to God the Father, that the whole persons of the Godhead may be glorified together, in the accomplishment of their Covenant of grace, yet, the Person of Christ as God-Man, will eternally remain. No period will ever arrive, wherein Christ shall cease to be Christ; that is, God and Man in one Person. Jesus is, and must be the Lamb forever. Yea, and all the communications of glory, will be to all eternity in Him, and by Him, and through Him. For he is then, at much as now the Head of his body the Church, the fullness of Him, which filleth all in all, Eph 1:22-23 . Hence, the very great blessedness here manifested to John, and to the Church through John , that Christ appeared to him, as the Lamb on Mount Zion.
Secondly. The place of manifestation was also gracious, and no doubt intended to teach both John and the Church, a most sweet and precious lesson. Mount Zion is Christ’s Church, of whom it is said the Lord hath chosen Zion, he hath desired it for his habitation. This (he saith) is my rest forever, here will I dwell, for I have desired it, Psa 132:13-14 . Here it is, Jesus plants his Church. Here, the king is held in the galleries of his ordinances. His presence is Zion’s glory, her strength, her security. And this was most blessedly shown, upon the present occasion to John, because the long reign of Antichrist, in the beast and dragon, with all their persecutions, that the Church laying open to such foes, might be taught Zion’s king was still in her, watching over her night and day, and watering her every moment. Nothing could be more gracious and timely, than this vision of Christ, and of the spot where the Lamb stood. It was in exact correspondence to that scripture, Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for, lo! I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the Lord. For I, saith the Lord, will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and will be the glory in the midst of her, Zec 2:5-10 .
Thirdly. There is also a very striking beauty in this scripture, that the number of an hundred and forty and four thousand are mentioned, being the very same number whom John had in a former vision seen, as sealed by Christ. (See Rev 7:2 ) So that here was shown, that notwithstanding all the long and wearisome persecutions, not one of them was lost. And moreover, the name of their Father, beheld by John in their foreheads, became as plain a proof, that they had made an open profession before men, whose they were, and to whom they belonged, in direct defiance to them, who had the mark of the beast, Rev 13:16-17 . Oh! how blessed is it, when the Lord gives grace, in the present hour, to his tried ones, that none of the privileges, of buying, or selling the world’s traffic, can induce the Lord’s people to worship the beast, or to receive his horrible name in their foreheads.
Fourthly. The mercy of this vision, in seeing Jesus with his redeemed, was intended by way of relief at this time, because the opposition of hell, with the two Antichristian powers, of the East, and the West, were to increase to a still greater degree, in proportion as the time hastened on, for their destruction. It is well known of the serpent of the earth, that he never stretches himself so long as when dying. And the serpent of hell, we are told, is come down with great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. Rev 12:1-2 . The last bite of the beast, will be the deepest. How very sweet and gracious was it therefore in the Lord, when about to shew his servant John the yet more violent persecutions coming on from the malice of hell and his auxiliaries, to show him here, that Christ was in his Church, and everyone of his little ones protected by him, and in everlasting safety.
Fifthly. But the mercy shown John in this representation, and to the Church through him, was extended further. For, in addition to what he saw, he heard also a voice from heaven, (that is, from the Church,) as the voice of many waters, and as thunder, intimating the multitude, probably the same multitude as John saw, Rev 7:9 , chanting aloud the song of redemption; no doubt the same as John heard before, the words of which he hath given us, Rev 5:9 . And, I beg the Reader to notice with peculiar regard, that none could learn the song but the redeemed. What can be more decisive in proof of the sovereignty of grace? In the Church upon earth there are none that truly and spiritually join ordinances, participate in their saving grace, in spirit and in understanding, taste and relish divine things, but the people of God. For how can a dead body partake of food? How can a sinner dead in trespasses and sins, until quickened into spiritual life, partake of the bread, of life? And equally so in the Church of heaven, none could ever sing or learn the song of redemption, unless redeemed from the earth, some men dream of heaven as if it was a place that in itself must be productive of happiness. And hence they think that if they can but get there among the crowd, they know not how, and I had almost said they care not how; they should be as happy as the rest. Alas! it is not the place which constitutes happiness, but the presence of the Lord. Where Christ is, and in the soul where Christ dwells, there is life and joy eternal. But without this saving change wrought on the soul of a sinner by regeneration, heaven, if it were possible to attain it, (and which is impossible by all that are not born again, Joh 3:5 ) would produce no happiness; but, on the contrary, misery. For the unrenewed man would be forever wretched in hearing this song of redemption, without being able to join in a single note of it, to all eternity.
Sixthly. The features of character given to the Lord’s army, come in with much sweetness, to close the account of this vision. And this is by no means the smallest part of the beauty of it. Under the figure of chastity, their attachment to Christ is shown. They are said, not to have defiled themselves with women. By which, in a general way of expression, is evidently meant to contrast the Lord’s followers from the followers of the beast. The kings of the earth, and all the nations, are said to have committed fornication, and to have been made drunken with the wine of the beast, Rev 18:3 . But the Lord’s redeemed are described by their chastity to Christ, and as the followers of the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. Their mouth without guile, and their being without fault before the throne, cannot be supposed to imply any purity in themselves, for in the similar representation John saw, they are said to have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. See Rev 7:14 . But it is Christ’s righteousness which is the purity of his people, and their robes of salvation in which they appear before the throne, their royal dress. He hath made them kings and priests to God and the Father; and therefore, this is the sole account wherefore they stand before his throne and serve him in his temple night and day.
Reader! ponder well this sweet and gracious vision. Think how blessedly the Lord termed it. How full and expressive of his love not only to John, but to the Church, both then and now. And remember, that it is always the same. By faith you and I may see the Lamb still on Mount Zion, and all his redeemed surrounding him. And, oh! for grace, to sing the song of redemption now; for surely then, we shall sing it one day with the whole Church in glory!
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
A New Song (for Holy Innocents’ Day)
Rev 14:3
Why, when heaven is yet ringing with the bright message of peace, does the wailing of Ramah, of Bethlehem, shriek in upon it with discordant jar? Perhaps the words of today’s Epistle may suggest our attitude while feeling after the teaching of the Holy Spirit on this festival.
The Apostle in his vision is contemplating a great company standing with the Lamb on Mount Zion, worshipping before the throne, and from that throne proceeds a voice as of many waters, and the voice of a great thunder.
I. It may be that the Teaching of Holy Innocents’ Day is part of the New Song of the Church which comes forth from the throne of God. For it is the song of infant wailing, an inarticulate cry, the song of those ‘whose only language is a cry,’ a cry of pain, of anguish, and of misery. All who came near Christ more or less suffered by approaching Him, just as if earthly trouble and pain went out of Him, as some precious virtue, for the good of their soul. Surely this is part of the new song of Holy Innocents’ Day, the true meaning of suffering in the economy of the world.
II. The Song that Mounts up before the Throne Today is also a Song without Words. It tells of no great achievements, no mighty actions. It tells of nameless fame, of passionless renown, of the glorious blessing of innocency as one of the choicest treasures of heaven. There is no other strain like it. Imperfection mingles with the song and the glory of the greatest martyrs. But they are without fault before the throne of God. The honour bestowed on little children the honour which belongs to innocency is another distinguishing mark of Christianity, the new song which the Church has tried to learn. Is the Holy Innocents’ Day put there simply to daunt us, and to kindle remorse, and aggravate our loss? No, we can in a sense make ourselves young again. We can go straight to our Father’s home, and ask Him to teach us even in this weary world, ‘Lord, what wouldst Thou have me to do?’
Rev 14:3
What a blessing it is that there are things so good and delightful that no repetition of them can convert them into bores! Were there not some such things, eternity would be but a melancholy prospect for us. The song of heaven is called a new song, although I suppose its elements must always be the same, to express its unwearying nature. The affections are always new.
Erskine of Linlathen, in a letter to his sister.
References. XIV. 3. H. Woodcock, Sermon Outlines (1st Series), p. 45. Bishop Wilberforce, Sermons, p. 169. Expositor (5th Series), vol. viii. p. 463; ibid. vol. x. p. 153.
Rev 14:4
Christmas Day is followed by three other holy days: St. Stephen, St. John, and the Innocents. Now, why is this? Why are these three holy days put thus close together, and made to follow immediately after Christmas? And why, of all the New Testament Saints, should these three be chosen to be, as it were, the train of followers appointed to wait on the Saviour at His Birth?
I. They are examples of the fruits of the Incarnation; instances of the work of restoration, and cleansing, and refining, by Christ of that nature which in Adam had been ruined; instances of what His Coming in the Flesh could do to make men like Himself, and fit for His Glory. Thus the Festival of St. Stephen, a man like ourselves, yet raised so high as to shed his blood for the truth, and pray for his murderers; of St. John, also like one of us, yet so sanctified that he spake of the love of God as only the Lord Himself spoke of it; of the Innocents, like other children, yet whose deaths as speechless infants, the saddest of all fates here, turned the curse and penalty of Adam’s sin into a crown of glory these were joined on to Christmas Day as the marks and trophies of His Christmas victory.
II. They show us that Christ’s blessing is not confined to one way of serving Him, to one sort of people, but is meant for all sorts and conditions and ages; that He has a place in His kingdom for young and old, for small and great. His saints will include men cut off in their prime, yet who have in a few days fulfilled the work of many; men like St. John, who have filled a long life with the glory and love of God; and also those whom the world despises, as weak and poor, children in age and in understanding, but gentle and sanctified enough to be His witnesses, and to suffer in quietness and silence.
III. They remind us that there are many different ways of serving Christ; many different gifts; many different ways of glorifying Him; yet all are of God, all belong to His one great purpose of saving and sanctifying man, all help on towards His kingdom. St. Stephen’s death (premature, from a worldly point of view) does not make St. John’s long life and peaceful end less acceptable, less becoming to the beloved disciple of a crucified Master. Early to die, or long to live, are both ways which lead to glory.
IV. They exemplify those special graces (in human type) of which He came down on earth to show the perfect pattern, and which were all united in His person. They show us reflections faint, indeed, but real in human souls like our own, of the glories of the Sun of Righteousness. They show us that man can, like Christ, gladly lay down his life for the sake of God, and his brethren; that man can love, after the example, and in the way, in which Christ loved; they show us the type among men of that perfect innocence and humility which was in Him. If we want to be like Christ, we must be like St. Stephen, St John, and the Holy Innocents, in those special graces for which we commemorate them.
R. W. Church, Village Sermons.
Holy Innocents’ Day
Rev 14:4
Today we commemorate the deaths of the little children slaughtered at Bethlehem to allay the unworthy fear of Herod. The blood-shedding of these little ones, martyrs in deed if not in will, strikes almost a discordant note amid our Christmas festivities. Our hearts are still full of the gladness of the coming of the Child-King. In our ears we still hear the ring of childish laughter, we can still see the brightness of the children’s eyes, as they feel that so much of all the Christmas merry-making has been organised in love, that they may have their part in the rejoicing at the birthday of the King In the midst of it all we are pointed to this tragedy of old, the slain little ones, victims to the cruel hatred and fear of an unworthy king. We realise that it is all part of the great strife for our salvation which our Lord waged. These little victims were but the first sacrificed by the powers of evil to retard the progress of the kingdom of light. Cruelty and hatred compassed the death of the King Himself, and since then saints have suffered, blood has been shed, tears have flowed, and martyrs have witnessed by their deaths.
I. The Tragedy of Child-Suffering. It reminds us, too, of the ever-present tragedy of child-suffering the suffering which results from the misdoing, cruelty, or neglect of adult people. How sad it all is, and we realise that, like the tragedy of Holy Innocents’ Day, it is all the fruit of sin! How many victims are sacrificed, year by year, by the neglect or positive ill-treatment of vicious and cruel parents! Parents so sodden by drink and other demoralising indulgence that natural affection has died within them, or only shines fitfully, making the periods of neglect, violence, and cruelty all the more horrible by contrast. Thank God, much is now being done to alleviate the suffering of little children. We may do much to alleviate this suffering, to stop this continual moral and actual slaying of little innocents, by supporting by every means in our power the carrying of the Gospel, the work of our Church, in the dark places in our cities. This is the true remedy: to lift up Jesus, the Friend for little children; to reach parents by our Temperance Societies and other reforming parish agencies; and so sweeten and make wholesome the home influences. And this is work which we can do much to aid, both by personal service and by giving of our means.
II. A Message of Comfort. We find a message of comfort as we turn again to the Epistle for today, showing us the state of happiness of little ones gathered by the Good Shepherd into His fold. ‘These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth; these were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.’ In some of the colonial churches this Epistle is used in place of the usual lesson in the Burial Service at the funerals of little children, and it certainly contains a message of hope and consolation for stricken hearts, bereaved of little loved ones. ‘They follow the Lamb.’ We, too, seek to follow Him, but, alas! cumbered by our earthly nature, how unworthy is our following! How many are our failures and mistakes! They dwell in His very presence. ‘In their mouth is found no guile; for they are without fault before the throne of God.’ Could there be happier conditions of existence or of service? The thought of their perfect bliss may well set ringing again in our hearts the Christmas bells of rejoicing and gladness. Surely every Christian heart must in time learn that the little one, taken in the freshness of its innocency and purity, uncontaminated by the world, is not to be mourned as one lost, but rather to be rejoiced over as a little lamb safely carried to the fold by the kind Shepherd. ‘Of such is the kingdom of heaven.’ Thus we see that the message of Holy Innocents’ Day need not be a sad one to us at all. To the bereaved it may be a joyous and glad one, as they regard these little ones as the ‘firstfruits unto the Lamb’. The first of the many little ‘children of God’ since brought safely to the joy of the presence of their Lord. And it will be a glad one to us all if we learn to follow the Lamb through all the dark paths of life, as they in their happier condition follow Him, bearing the marks of purity, guilelessness and obedience.
Rev 14:4
I am obliged to mention, though I do it with great reluctance, another deep imagination which at this time, the autumn of 1816, takes possession of me there can be no mistake about the fact; viz., that it would be the will of God that I should lead a single life. This anticipation, which has held its ground almost continuously ever since with the break of a month now and a month then, up to 1829, and after that date without any break at all was more or less connected in my mind with the notion that my calling in life would require such a sacrifice as celibacy involved: as, for instance, missionary work among the heathen, to which I had a great drawing for some years. It also strengthened my feeling of separation from the visible world.
Newman’s Apologia pro Vita Sua.
This was also a text over which Milton says he ‘did not slumber,’ taking it as an incentive to purity, which struck ‘doubtless at fornication; for marriage must not be called a defilement’.
Rev 14:4
When Joseph John Gurney was adopting more and more strictly the principles of Quakerism, he wrote in defence of his conduct: ‘It will be difficult to the outward man to become more of a Friend, but it is the path of the cross; and of those who had the Father’s name written on their foreheads, St. John heard a voice from heaven saying, “These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever He leadeth them”.’
In the last chapter of Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte applies the same text to the resolute character of St John Rivers in his missionary career. ‘A more resolute, indefatigable pioneer never wrought amidst rocks and dangers. Firm, faithful, and devoted; full of energy and zeal and truth, he labours for his race…. His is the ambition of the high master-spirit, which aims to fill a place in the first rank of those who are redeemed from the earth who stand without fault before the throne of God; who share the last mighty victories of the Lamb; who are called and chosen and faithful.’
Keble makes this verse the text of his lines on ‘The Holy Innocents’ Day’.
Rev 14:4
John Evelyn, in his Diary, quotes this verse in describing the last hours of his dear son: ‘Such a child I never saw; for such a child I bless God, in whose bosom he is! May I and mine become as this little child, who now follows the child Jesus, that Lamb of God, in a white robe, whithersoever He goes; even so, Lord Jesus, fiat voluntas tua . Thou gavest him to us, Thou hast taken him from us, blessed be the name of the Lord! That he had anything acceptable to Thee was from Thy grace alone, seeing from me he had nothing but sin, but that Thou hast pardoned! Blessed be my God for ever! Amen.’
References. XIV. 4. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xlii. No. 2456. Expositor (7th Series), vol. vi. p. 177.
The Ideal Christian Life
Rev 14:4-5
This is a picture, furnished by revelation, of a redeemed society. Its fulness is realised in the life which is to come; its beginnings are here and now. Although, therefore, the vision of life which is painted for us here belongs in its fulness to the future, we may see its outlines in the present, see now the characteristics of the life here sketched for us; and we ought to be striving after this ideal every day.
I. In the first place, it is a complete following of Christ Following Christ is the alpha and omega of the Christian life, and without it there can be no Christian life. To follow Him in the general sense is to live in His spirit, the spirit of trust and obedience towards God, and of loving interest and service towards men, which He manifested. And to follow Him in the particular sense is to say every day with honest and earnest purpose, ‘Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?’ not, ‘What are others doing,’ but, ‘What is the will of My Master for me?’ Nothing is clearer to a student of the ways of Christ with men than that His will differs for different people.
II. We come upon the secret of this absolute following: ‘These were purchased’. The atonement of Christ is not a cold legal transaction, by virtue of which a certain number of souls are passed over from the power of evil to the power of good; it is not thus that men are bought; but by goodness, by love, by the infinite grace of Christ the will is won over, the love of man for God is created, the devotion of the heart is purchased.
III. We see the result of following Christ manifested in the character of these elect souls. ‘In their mouth was found no lie: they are without blemish.’ Christ imparts this purity to those who follow Him. A more perfect following of Christ, a more perfect union with Him, will mean a more perfect purity. There is nothing that the Bible more strongly insists upon than that we shall be true. And they are without spot, they are pure and clean. Nothing pains a man who is truly seeking to follow Christ, nothing gives him such agony of soul, as the spots and stains that are in his thoughts and desires, on his inner life, spots which he sometimes thinks are gone, which break out again and again, visible it may be to no eye but his own and God’s. But it is not impossible, and we are not to lose the desire. It may take a lifetime to achieve it, but it will certainly be achieved by the man who earnestly seeks it, and seeks it in the right way.
Charles Brown, Light and Life, p. 23.
References. XIV. 4, 5. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxxix. No. 2324. XIV. 6. W. Landels, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xlv. p. 363. R. F. Horton, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lvi. p. 216. Expositor (4th Series), vol. i. p. 34.
Rev 14:6-7
From this passage Edward Bickersteth preached his great sermon at the Jubilee of the Church Missionary Society in 1848, in St. Anne’s Church, Blackfriars. He dwelt on the Gospel as everlasting (1) in contrast with perishing empires; (2) in contrast to the pretensions of vain philosophy; (3) in its suitableness to the most urgent wants of mankind; (4) in the eternal blessings it conveys; (6) in the obligation of every Christian to diffuse it.
Reference. XIV. 7. N. D. Hillis, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lvii. p. 328.
Rev 14:9-10
I believe it to be quite one of the crowning wickednesses of this age that we have starved and chilled our faculty of indignation, and neither desire nor dare to punish crimes justly. We have taken up the benevolent idea, forsooth, that justice is to be preventive instead of vindictive; and we imagine that we are to punish, not in anger, but in expediency; not that we may give deserved pain to the person in fault, but that we may frighten other people from committing the same fault…. But all true justice is vindictive to vice, as it is rewarding to virtue. Only and herein it is distinguished from personal re-venge it is vindictive of the wrong done, not of the wrong done to us. It is the rational expression of deliberate anger, as of deliberate gratitude; it is not exemplary or even corrective, but essentially retributive; it is the absolute art of measured recompense, giving honour where honour is due, and shame where shame is due, and joy where joy is due, and pain where pain is due.
Ruskin, Lectures on Art, III.
References. XIV. 9-11. Expositor (4th Series), vol. ii. p. 290; ibid. (6th Series), vol. iii. p. 457. XIV. 12. J. A. Alexander, The Gospel of Jesus Christ, p. 487. Expositor (6th Series), vol. i. p. 143. XIV. 12, 13. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxi. No. 1219. H. M. Butler, Harrow School Sermons (2nd Series), p. 71.
Rev 14:13
After describing the scene at Cromwell’s deathbed, Carlyle quotes this verse to round off his hero’s career: ‘Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord; blessed are the valiant that have lived in the Lord. Amen, saith the Spirit Amen. They do rest from their labours and their works follow them.
‘Their works follow them.
If the blessedness of the dead that die in the Lord were only in resting in the grave, then a beast or a stone were as blessed; nay, it were evidently a curse and not a blessing. For was not life a great mercy? Was it not a greater mercy to serve God and do good to enjoy all the comforts of life, the fellowship of the saints, the comfort of ordinances, and much of Christ in all than to be rotting in the grave? Therefore some further blessedness is there promised.
Richard Baxter.
In The Friend (essay XIV.) Coleridge pronounces the following eulogy upon Dr. Andrew Bell, founder of the ‘Madras’ or monitorial system of education, ‘Would I frame to myself the most inspiriting representation of future bliss which my mind is capable of comprehending, it would be embodied to me in the idea of Bell receiving, at some distant period, the appropriate reward of his earthly labours, when thousands and ten thousands of glorified spirits, whose reason and conscience had through his efforts been unfolded, shall sing the song of their own redemption, and pouring forth praises to God and to their Saviour, shall repeat his “new name” in Heaven, give thanks for his earthly virtues, as the chosen instrument of Divine mercy to themselves, and not seldom, perhaps, turn their eyes towards him, as from the sun to its image in the fountain, with secondary gratitude and the permitted utterance of a human love.’
I have certainly seen sometimes engraved over your family vaults, and especially on the more modern tablets, those comfortful words, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord. But I observe that you are usually content, with the help of the village stonemason, to say only this concerning your dead; and that you but rarely venture to add the yea of the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours, and their works do follow them. Nay, I am not even sure that many of you clearly apprehend the meaning of such followers and following, nor, in the most pathetic funeral sermons, have I heard the matter made strictly intelligible to your hope…. And yet it is a text which, seeing how often we would fain take the comfort of it, surely invites explanation. The implied difference between those who die in the Lord, and die otherwise; the essential distinction between the labour from which those blessed ones rest, and the work which in some mysterious way follows them… ought, it seems to me, to cause the verse to glow on your (lately, I observe, more artistic) tombstones, like the letters on Belshazzar’s wall; and with the more lurid and alarming light, that this following of the works is distinctly connected, in the parallel passage of Timothy, with judgment upon the works.
Ruskin, Fors Clavigera, XLV.
References. XIV. 13. Archbishop Temple, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lix. p. 65. J. Baines, Twenty Sermons, p. 75. C. Gutch, Sermons, p. 290. J. Keble, Sermons for the Holy Week, p. 241. Expositor (6th Series), vol. vi. p. 14. Ibid. (6th Series), vol. x. p. 369. XIV. 13, 14. J. G. Greenhough, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lix. p. 86. XIV. 14-20. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. 1. No. 2910.
Rev 14:15
I must, in passing, mark for you that the form of the sword or sickle of Perseus, with which he kills Medusa, is another image of the whirling happy vortex, and belongs especially to the sword of destruction and annihilation; whence it is given to the two angels (Rev 14:16 ), who gather for destruction, the evil harvest and evil vintage of the earth.
Ruskin, The Queen of the Air, sec. 30.
References. XIV. 18. Expositor (6th Series), vol. ix. p. 139. XV. 1. Ibid. (6th Series), vol. x. p. 200. XV. 2, 3. S. H. Fleming, Fifteen-Minute Sermons for the People, p. 62. A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture Revelation, p. 341. XV. 2-4. J. H. Holford, Memorial Sermons, p. 166.
Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson
XIII
PROPHETIC FORECASTS OF CHURCH HISTORY (CONTINUED)
Rev 14
The preceding chapter will be reviewed only this much:
1. Satan, considering the chaotic and disintegrated national material of the fallen pagan Roman Empire, reconstructed another Roman Empire, composed of many states, each with its own national government, but united in its religion. This was a union of church and state sometimes the state exercising jurisdiction over the church, demanding universal conformity in religion as the ruler of the state understood it; and sometimes the church dominating the state with a tendency toward absolute church supremacy in both civil and ecclesiastical matters. Until the church pressed the state too far in local state affairs, they gave their power and authority to the church; but when the pressure became intolerable the state would rend the church.
As the states succeeded in their revolt against the assumption of the church authority over state matters, their maxim would yet be: “Whose is the government his is the religion” i.e., the head of each state will become the head of the church in his own domain, proscribing all dissent from his own religion. This maxim was later maintained by Protestant states as well as by papal states; by Geneva and Henry VIII, as well as by Philip of Spain and Louis XIV of France.
2. This strange empire, called later “The Holy Roman Empire,” is symbolized by the leopard beast of Rev 13:1-2 .
3. The ecclesiastical head, which ultimately assumed absolute Jurisdiction over all states and all religions in other words, the papacy or succession of Popes is symbolized by the earth beast that looked like a lamb but had the voice of the dragon (Rev 13:11 ).
4. The counterfeit church as an institution of which the Pope was the head is symbolized by the harlot sitting on or riding the leopard beast (Rev 17:6 ).
5. The scriptural passages governing this interpretation are Dan 7:7-25 , and Rev 17:7-18 .
6. This interpretation identifies the papal beast of Rev 17:11 , with “the little horn” of Dan 7:8 , and with the false prophet of Rev 19:20 .
7. The reader must understand that the transition from pagan Rome to “The Holy Roman Empire” was gradual, marked by successive changes, and that the papacy developed from small beginnings to its culmination at the Vatican Council in 1870 in the declaration of papal infallibility. And that the Roman Catholic hierarchy, imagined by the harlot of Rev 17:1-6 , was also a development of the centuries.
Having thus considered Satan’s new device for destroying Christ’s luminous institution, and for corrupting the ministry, and for perverting the gospel, we will in Rev 14 consider the spiritual forces aligned on the other side.
Rev 14 is divided into four parts:
Part I The Lamb, his true church, the holy angels and his people (Rev 14:1-5 ).
Part II The proclamation of the three angels (Rev 14:6-13 ).
Part III The harvest of the good (Rev 14:14-16 ).
Part IV The vintage of the evil (Rev 14:17-20 ).
The chief purpose of chapter 14 is to give a summary of Christ’s victory over Satan, and of the final and complete victory of the true church over the counterfeit. I say a summary a bare outline whose methods and details are set forth elaborately in all the rest of the section i.e., from Rev 15:1 , to Rev 19:10 .
Then from another viewpoint other details of Rev 14 outline will be given in the last synchronous view from Rev 19:11-20:6 , though in this case the view extends somewhat beyond anything clearly suggested in this outline. It is important to note this relation of Rev 14 to subsequent chapters a relation of outline to details.
PART I (Rev 14:1-5 ) “And I saw, and behold, the Lamb standing on Mount Zion and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his name and the name of his Father written on their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder; and the voice which I heard was as the voice of harpers harping on their harps: And they sing as it were a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders, and no man could learn the song save the hundred and forty and four thousand, even they that had been purchased out of the earth. These are they that were not defiled of women; for they are virgins. These are they that follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were purchased from among men, to be the firstfruits unto God and unto the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no lie; they were without blemish.”
As Rev 13 gave us a view of Satan, his beasts, his seat of empire the counterfeit church, his counterfeit gospel, his worshipers and the character of their worship, this vision opens with a view of our Lord, as the “Lamb,” his seat of power “Mount Zion” i.e., the true church his worshipers, their secure redemption, their character, and the nature of their worship.
It is of great importance that we interpret these symbols not literally, but according -to the law of symbols, what they represent. “The Lamb” is not a real sheep, but symbolizes our Lord as the expiating sacrifice for sin. Without expiation and atonement for sin Satan’s power over sinners cannot be broken, nor can these sinners otherwise be redeemed or made secure in their redemption, nor appear clean in God’s sight. “Mount Zion” here is not the real mountain in Jerusalem, nor the heavenly Jerusalem of Revelation 21-22, but the militant Mount Zion that is, the true church on earth considered as an institution in other words, the radiant woman of Rev 12:1 . So the hundred and forty-four thousand numbers his people symbolically, not literally, but representatively. It is a perfect multiple of the sacred 12, many times appearing in this book twelve tribes, twelve stars, twelve apostles, twelve foundations, twenty-four elders i.e., twice twelve. There is, however, this difference between the application of the hundred and forty-four thousand here (Rev 14:1 ) and its appearance in Rev 17:4-8 . Here it represents the spiritual Israel without regard to nationality; there it represents the elect Jews as contradistinguished from the saved of other nations, as the context shows.
As Satan’s followers bore on their forehead and hand a symbolic brand, so here on the forehead of Christ’s people are symbolically written the names of the Lamb and of his Father. In both cases the marks are symbols not of character, as many commentators would have it, but of ownership. One class the devil owns the other class belongs to God. West Texans will understand, for they, in riding the range, recognize that the different brands on cattle do not refer to the quality of the cattle i.e., whether Longhorns, Shorthorns, Durhams, Jerseys, Holsteins, or Herefords but indicate the owner.
The singers and harpers of the new song, in Rev 14:2-3 seem to be the ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands of holy angels of Rev 5:11 . They are in that chapter, and here, distinguished from the throne, the Cherubim, and the Elders, because they sing before them, and they are distinguished from the saints on earth, for the saints learn the song after these sing it. The idea is that high up and far away, around the throne of God, the angels, with harp and voice, are praising the Lamb for his work of redemption, as in Rev 5:12 “Worthy is the Lamb that hath been slain to receive the power, and riches, and wisdom, and might, and honor, and glory, and blessing.” You read a similar song at the birth of our Lord by the same singers, in Luk 2:13-14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men in whom he is well pleased.” Had it been a hymn of creation or providence, as when all these angelic “sons shouted for joy,” or as Psa 104 , it would not have been a new song. But as it relates to the Redeemer and to redemption only, it is new.
Again, had it been a song of creation, any deist like Tom Paine, admiring Addison’s paraphrase of Psa 19 , or any admirer of Pope’s “Universal Prayer” addressed to “Jehovah, Jove, or Lord,” might learn it. But, being a song of redemption, only the redeemed on earth blood-washed would have their hearts attuned to its harmony. They could learn it.
Again, the idea is that praise, all the time, in loudest melody is filling the courts of heaven and echoing through the universe, but on earth only those whose spiritual ears have been opened can hear the music, and only hearts purified by the cleansing blood can take up the response, and thus constitute a grand antiphony earthly choirs responding to heavenly choirs in one blended sublime symphony. Bunyan’s man with the muckrake, eyes downcast, never saw or heard the angel above him offering an eternal crown.
We need particularly to understand the characteristics of the hundred and forty-four thousand in Rev 14:4-5 :
1. “They were not defiled with women; for they are virgins.” The word “virgins” is common gender, i.e., may apply, and does here apply, to both sexes. But it is a gross perversion of the interpretation of symbolic language to make this characteristic apply to celibacy and thereby commend monks and nuns. Spiritual incontinence was the worship of idols. The symbolic “virgins” here means that these saints had not worshiped Satan, nor his leopard beast, nor his lamb dragon beast, nor the image of the beast.
2. “They follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth.” This is the characteristic of obedience. As our Lord had said: “If any man would be my disciple, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me,” and when he said: “If ye love me, keep my commandments,” and yet again: “Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you.” The emphasis on the “withersoever” implies that we should not merely follow in the days of loaves and fishes, nor merely as the “hosanna” crowd on his entrance into Jerusalem, but follow him to the cross. His leadership should be paramount even when to follow means prisons, chains, confiscation or death.
3. They were “purchased” men, bought with his own precious blood of redemption, and hence a property “peculiar” to him. His ownership was absolute.
4. “Firstfruits” The idea again is one of ownership. Under the law firstfruits were not for common use, but belonged to God only and must be offered to him alone. This applies to the first-born of families and all cattle. The thought differs from ownership by purchase. It affirms an original ownership, as the first-born son or the first-born male of cattle or other stock, and the firstfruits of all harvests belonged to God. This is the thought in Heb 12:23 “Church of the firstborn.”
5. “In their mouth was found no lie.” Here again the veracity commended was a spiritual quality, meaning that they neither preached, taught, nor testified to a doctrinal lie. Theirs was no dragon, no beast message; but the real gospel of Jesus Christ. They perverted not his ordinances; they deluded not by pointing to a false hope. There is no reference to lying in general. Of course, Christianity condemns that.
6. “They are without blemish.” Here again the reference is not to a freedom from faults or infirmities, physical or mental, and I say not even or at least not exclusively to a freedom from immorality in the ordinary sense. A comparison of all the parallel passages shows: (a) There is no blemish in their external righteousness before the law, for it is in Christ’s perfect imputed righteousness, (b) There is no blemish on their internal righteousness, for it is a holiness commenced in regeneration and carried on and consummated in sanctification. (See Eph 5:27 .)
The logical, not the chronological order of these six characteristics expressed in plain English is this:
1. They are Christ’s because he created them.
2. They are Christ’s because when sold into bondage to Satan through sin he bought them back with his own precious blood.
3. They are not idolaters not guilty of spiritual fornication.
4. They obey Christ, not Satan nor his beasts, nor the harlot, nor the world.
5. They preach and teach the gospel, not the “doctrines of demons.”
6. They are without blemish because justified, regenerated, sanctified. These are the righteousnesses which are spotless.
Having now considered part one of our chapter, describing our Lord, his church, his holy angels, his people, we turn to
PART II
The proclamations of the three angels: Rev 14:6-13 ).
First angel: “And I saw another angel flying in midheaven, having eternal good tidings to proclaim unto them that dwell on the earth, and unto every nation, and tribe, and tongue, and people; and he saith with a great voice: Fear God and give him glory, for the hour of his judgment is come; and worship him that made the heaven and the earth and the sea and fountains of waters.”
Under the imagery of this flying angel is set forth the means by which the saints on earth win their victory over Satan, his “Holy Roman Empire,” its papal head and counterfeit church. That means the worldwide diffusion of the true gospel. Wheresoever that gospel is preached in its purity and accepted by faith, there God is feared and not the Pope: there the glory is given to the Lamb and not to the virgin Mary. Kings and secular governments, offended at papal usurpation, may and do resort to carnal means for the suppression of this unholy power. They may and do, by legal enactment, abolish monasteries and nunneries, banish the Jesuits, sever the connection between their state religions and the papal. They may and do both prescribe and proscribe by way of restraint. But as the kingdom of our Lord is not of this world, his servants fight with different weapons. Their offensive weapon is the Word of God the Sword of the Spirit. They preach the Word; placard the skies with it; fill the earth with it; translate it into every tongue, tell its saving story by preacher and layman to all nations, relying on the Spirit’s convicting, regenerating, and sanctifying power.
It is Rev 14:6 that gave rise to the missionary hymn “Fly Abroad, Thou Mighty Gospel.” It is called an everlasting because it will never become obsolete. An atheistic president of a great university may vainly try to supersede it with “a new religion.” It is everlasting and confers life everlasting upon its loving recipients. What a pity when Christians lay aside this tempered, two-edged, sharp-pointed New Jerusalem blade for a carnal weapon.
Second angel: “And another, a second angel, followed, saying: Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, that hath made all the nations to drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.”
This is God’s preannouncement of the doom of the counterfeit church, with the indictment that she had made all nations participate in her spiritual fornication that is, substitution of worship of the creature for the worship of the Creator and Redeemer. The verdict of history sustains the indictment. They have made a man the head of the church instead of our Lord, and called him “My Lord God the Pope.” They have vested him with infallibility, when speaking “ex-cathedra.” They have made him Christ’s vicar instead of the Holy Spirit, and have vested him with the two keys and the two swords, usurping Christ’s authority to open and shut, both ecclesiastical and secular authority to punish the whole world. They have made a woman “the queen of heaven,” declared her “the fountain of all grace,” and interposed her as mediator between the saint and his Saviour the only mediator between God and man. This is not Mariology, but Mariolatry. They confer on the consecrating priest the authority to “create God,” and when the wafer is consecrated it is worshiped as God, thus multiplying the passion of our Lord, who “suffered once for all.” They have caused the world to adore images and relics, attributing to them many lying miracles. They have claimed jurisdiction over the Spirit world, and lengthened probation beyond the grave. In imitation of the heathen demigods, they have filled the calendar with saints whose help is invoked in prayer. They have changed ordinances, added to them, and attributed to them saving power. No wonder this device of Satan is said to be “full of the names of blasphemies” and her cup “full of fornications.”
Third angel: “And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a great voice: If any man worshippeth the beast and his image, and receiveth a mark on his forehead or upon his hand, he also shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is prepared unmixed [that is, undiluted] in the cup of his anger; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in t he presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb, and the smoke of their torment goeth up for ever and ever and they have no rest day and night, they that worship the beast and his image, and whoso receiveth the mark of his name.”
The simple meaning of this paragraph is that those who incorrigibly persist in drinking from the harlot’s cup of mixed abominations, shall be made to drink of the cup of God’s unmixed wrath, i.e., undiluted wrath. As a later detail (Rev 18:4 ) distinctly shows, it does not mean that God has no real children among the papists. It would be an outrage on common sense and history to make such a sweeping accusation.
This part two closes with two verses somewhat difficult to expound with confidence: “Here is the patience of the saints, they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. And I heard a voice from heaven saying, Write, Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth: yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; for their works follow with them.” I give you my best judgment of the meaning both negatively and positively: Your attention has already been called to the difference in meaning between “Here is the patience of the saints” as expressed in Rev 13:10 , and as expressed here Rev 14:12 . You notice in Rev 13:10 , the phrase is modified by “and the faith,” but not so modified here, which as I think means that in the first case the saints in their endurance are consoled only by faith that God will ultimately vindicate them. In the latter case the fruition of faith is at hand. They are vindicated; there is no delay any longer, which suggests the clue to the meaning of Rev 14:13 . Which does not mean that those who die at another time are not blessed. But it does mean that there is a sense in which those dying in the Lord after the fall of the papal Rome are blessed, which martyrs who died in the Lord in the hour of papal triumph did not share. And the precise sense is defined in the concluding clause: “For their works do follow them.” It was a long time before the works of the martyrs followed them into glory, i.e., until the wisdom and righteousness of their course was demonstrated. In the eyes of their companions their bloody death seemed to be a failure. But now, when the persecuting power is destroyed and popular sentiment is with the saints, his death is not regarded as a tragedy but a glorious consummation of a happy life. Paul, in a measure, expresses the thought when he charges Timothy not to be hasty in ordaining men, because while in some men their character is evident at first sight, in others it is not evident. As he expresses it: “Lay hands hastily on no man, neither be partaker of other men’s sins . . . Some men’s sins are evident, going before unto judgment; and some men also they follow after. In like manner also there are good works that are evident; and such as are cannot be hid.”
Now that the persecuting power is destroyed, Write: “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord henceforth, for their works do follow them.”
PART III The Great Harvest
Rev 14:14 : “And I saw, and behold, a white cloud, and on the cloud I saw one sitting, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple crying with great voice to him that sat on the cloud: Send forth thy sickle and reap; for the hour to reap is come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe. And he that sat on the cloud cast his sickle on the earth and the earth was reaped.”
Now, that is the harvest of the good.
PART IV The Great Vintage
Rev 14:17 : “And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. And another angel came out from the altar, he that hath power over fire; and he called with a great voice to him that had the sharp sickle, saying: Send forth thy sharp sickle and gather the clusters of the vines of the earth, for her grapes are fully ripe. And the angel cast his sickle into the earth and gathered the vintage of the earth, and cast it into the winepress, the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was without the city, and there came out blood from the winepress, even unto the bridle of the horses, as far as a thousand and six hundred furlongs.”
That is the harvest of the bad. The director of both the harvest and the vintage is our Lord himself. The agents employed are the angels. The general import of these two parts of the chapter is much the same as that of the parable of the tares as expounded by our Lord himself: “He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; and the field is the world; and the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom, and the tares are the sons of the evil one and the enemy that sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the world, and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered up and burned with fire; so shall it be in the end of the world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that cause stumbling and them that do iniquity and shall cast them into the flames of fire; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He that hath ears, let him hear.” And much the same is that of the parable of the dragnet: “And again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net that was cast into the sea and gathered every kind; which when it was filled they drew up on the beach, and they sat down and gathered the good into vessels, but the bad they cast away. So shall it be in the end of the world; the angels shall come forth and sever the wicked from among the righteous and shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
The only difference in the exact import lies in this: That the parables of the tares and dragnet represent the final judgment scene, whereas the harvest and the vintage here represent that era of judgments which precedes even the millennium and introduces it. There is a triumph of the true church, more elaborately set forth later, and the downfall of the counterfeit church, also set forth later with elaborate details. There is a complete reversal of the relative positions of the two institutions. In Rev 12:6 , the true church is in the obscurity of the wilderness for 1,260 years. In Rev 17:3 , the counterfeit church is in the wilderness, about to receive her final doom. Particularly the vintage will reappear in the great war of Harmageddon (Rev 16:16 ) and in the winepress of the wrath (Rev 19:15 ), as it had already been forecast by Isaiah (Isa 63:1-6 ).
QUESTIONS REVIEW of PRECEDING CHAPTER
1. What is the symbol of the “Holy Roman Empire” which succeeded to pagan Rome?
2. What is the symbol of its ecclesiastical head?
3. What is the symbol of the counterfeit church?
4, What are the scriptures which govern the interpretation?
5. With what expression in Daniel, and a later one in this book, is the lamb dragon beast identified?
6. Were the “Holy Roman Empire,” and the papacy, and the Romanish hierarchy instantaneous products, or all gradual developments from email beginnings?
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
7. What are the four parts of this chapter?
8. What is its general purpose and relation to succeeding chapters?
9. What caution in interpreting the symbolism of this chapter? Part One Rev 14:1-5
10. Under what symbol does our Lord appear, and its meaning?
11. Under what symbol does the church appear, and its meaning negatively and positively?
12. Who are symbolized by the 144,000, and what distinction in meaning between that symbolic number here and in Rev 17:4-8 ?
13. Illustrate in a way familiar to West Texans that the Satan brand on forehead and hand, and the divine inscription on the foreheads of the saints, do not represent character or quality, but ownership.
14. Who were the singers and harpers of Rev 14:2 ?
15. Explain the “new song” they sing, and cite two similar preceding songs.
16. Cite instances of an “Old Song,” and who could learn to sing that; and why only the redeemed can learn the new song.
17. Explain negatively where necessary, and positively, each one of the six characteristics of the saints.
18. Repeat in logical order, and without symbols, these six characteristics.
THE PROCLAMATIONS OF THE THREE ANGELS
19. State briefly the meaning of the “flying angel.”
20. Distinguish between the means of victory over the counterfeit church employed by the saints and by secular governments, and why?
21. Why is this gospel called “everlasting,” and how does it rebuke a certain president emeritus of a great university?
22. What hymn suggested by this verse?
23. What is the meaning of the second proclamation; and what is the indictment of the counterfeit church?
24. Show how history sustains the indictment.
25. Meaning of the third angelic proclamation. Prove from subsequent passage that this destruction does not overtake all Romanists.
26. What is the difference between the “patience of the saints” in Rev 13:10 , and Rev 14:12 ?
27. Explain the “henceforth” in Rev 14:13 .
28. In general terms what is the meaning of the harvest and what is the vintage of Rev 14:14-20 ?
29. In general terms wherein is this paragraph like two parables of our Lord, but wherein does it differ from those parables?
30. In what subsequent passages of this book does the vintage reappear in more details, and what prophet forecasts this vintage?
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
1 And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads.
Ver. 1. A lamb ] In opposition to that counterfeit lamb, Rev 13:12 . A lion he can show himself at pleasure.
Stood ] Ready pressed for action, as at the stoning of Stephen, or he stood sentinel for such as he here reserved to himself under the reign and rage of Antichrist.
A hundred forty and four thousand ] The same that were sealed, Rev 7:4 , all the holy martyrs, confessors, believers.
Having his Father’s name ] His Father and their Father, his God and their God; this was written. on their foreheads, as “holiness to the Lord” was upon the high priest’s,Exo 28:36Exo 28:36 . For the constancy of their confession; they were not “ashamed of the gospel of Christ”Rom 1:16Rom 1:16 , nor “afraid with any amazement,” 1Pe 3:6 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
1 20 .] THE CONTRAST: THE BLESSEDNESS, AND THE COUNTER-AGENCY OF THE SAINTS OF GOD. THE HARVEST AND THE VINTAGE OF THE EARTH. This is not entirely another vision, but an introduction of a new element, one of comfort and joy, upon the scene of the last. And thus it must be viewed: with reference to the persecution by the beast which is alluded to in its course, Rev 14:9 ff. It is also anticipatory, first containing reference to the mystic Babylon, hereafter to become the subject of prophecy in detail; and to the consummation of punishment and reward, also to be treated in detail hereafter. It is general in its character, reaching forward close to the time of the end, treating compendiously of the torment of the apostates and the blessedness of the holy dead, and leading, by its concluding section, which treats of the harvest and the vintage of the earth, to the vision of the seven last vials, now immediately to follow.
It naturally divides itself into three sections: of which the first is,
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
1 5 .] The Lamb on Mount Sion, and his hundred and forty-four thousand . And I saw, and beheld the Lamb (viz., the same which before was seen in the midst of the throne, ch. Rev 5:6 al.) standing upon (see on this accus., when the super-position is first mentioned, note, ch. Rev 4:2 ) the mount Sion (as in ch. 11, the holy city is introduced as the seat of God’s true Church and worship, so by a similar figure (not the same, for thus Mount Sion would be outside the , and thus given to the Gentiles) the holy mountain Sion is now chosen for the site of the display of God’s chosen ones with Christ, the Son of David, whose city Sion was), and with Him an hundred and forty-four thousand, having His name and the name of His Father (observe the tacit assumption that all understand Who is imported by the Lamb) written on their foreheads (first observe the contrast: the nations of the earth, constrained to receive the mark of the beast on their forehead and hand, and the Lamb’s elect, marked with His name and that of His Father. The question next meets us, Are these 144,000 identical with the same number in ch. Rev 7:4 ? This question clearly must not be answered merely by the absence of a defining article here, to identify these as those there spoken of. For it might well be, that the reader should be meant to identify the two in his mind, by recognizing the marks common to the two, without the note of identification being expressly set in the text. The presumption certainly is that the same number occurring here, representing as there the elect and first-fruits of the church, here as there also inscribed on their foreheads with the seal of God in the one case, and His Name in the other, must be descriptive of the same body of persons. And this view, if acquiesced in here, will reflect back considerable light on that former vision of the sealing in ch. 7. Those, as these, will represent the first-fruits or choice ones among God’s people, as indeed we have treated them in this commentary, and not the totality of those who shall form the great multitude which no man can number. These, as those, are taken to represent the people of God: their introduction serves to place before us the church on the holy hill of Sion, where God has placed His King, as an introduction to the description of her agency in preaching the everlasting Gospel, and her faithfulness amidst persecutions). And I heard a voice out of heaven as a voice of many waters (reff.), and as a voice of great thunder (ch. Rev 6:1 ): and the voice which I heard ( was ) as of harpers harping with (the of investiture, cf. ch. Rev 6:8 , Rev 9:19 and notes) their harps. And they sing [ as it were ] a new song (i. e. if the be retained, they sing what sounded like a melody unheard before. The subject to is of course not the 144,000, but the heavenly harpers. On the subject of their song, see below) before the throne and before the four living-beings and the elders (the whole heavenly symbolism remaining as before, while the visions regarding God’s temple and Mount Sion and the holy city are going forward. I would call the attention of the reader to the fact, essential to the right understanding of the vision, that the harpers and the song are in heaven, the 144,000 on earth): and no one was able to learn the song (to apprehend its melody and meaning, so as to accompany it and bear a part in the chorus) except the hundred and forty-four thousands who (the gender is , see ref.) were purchased (reff. and Rev 14:4 ) from the earth (the song has regard to matters of trial and triumph, of deep joy and heavenly purity of heart, which none other among men but these pure and holy ones are capable of apprehending. The sweetest and most skilful harmonies convey no pleasure to, nor are they appreciated by an uneducated ear: whereas the experienced musician finds in every chord the most exquisite enjoyment. The unskilled ear, even though naturally distinctive of musical sounds, could not learn nor reproduce them: but both these can be done by those who have ears to hear them. Even so this heavenly song speaks only to the virgin heart, and can be learnt only by those who accompany the Lamb whithersoever He goeth). These are they who were not (the aor. shews that their course is ended and looked back on as a thing past: and serves to confute all interpretations which regard them as representing saints while in the midst of their earthly conflict and trial) defiled with women (see below); for they are (always were and have kept themselves till the time present) virgins (there are two ways of understanding these words. Either they may be figurative, merely implying that these pure ones lived in all chastity, whether in single or in married life, and incurred no pollution (ref. 2 Cor.): or they may be meant literally, that these purest ones had lived in that state of which St. Paul says 1Co 7:1 , . And as between these two meanings I conceive that the somewhat emphatic position of goes some way to decide. It is not , the fact of impurity in allowed intercourse, but , that is put forward, the fact of commerce with women. I would therefore believe that in the description of these who are the first-fruits from the earth, the feature of virginity is to be taken in its literal meaning. Nor need any difficulty be found in this. It is on all hands granted that he who is married in the Lord enters into holy relations of which the single have no experience, and goes through blessed and elevating degrees of self-sacrifice, and loving allowance, and preferring others before himself. And as every step of grace assured is a step of glory secured, there is no doubt that the holy married servants of God shall have a peculiar entrance into the fulness of that future Kingdom’s employ, which will not be the lot of the single: seeing that in this matter also, the childhood of this state will be the father of the manhood of that one. But neither on the other hand can it be denied that the state of holy virginity has also its peculiar blessings and exemptions. Of these, the Apostle himself speaks of that absence of distraction from the Lord’s work, which is apt to beset the married, busy as they are with the cares of a household and with pleasing one another. And another and primary blessing is, that in them that fountain of carnal desire has never been opened, which is so apt to be a channel for unholy thoughts and an access for the tempter. The virgins may thus have missed the victory over the lusts of the flesh: but they have also in great part escaped the conflict. Theirs is not the triumph of the toil-worn and stained soldier, but the calm and the unspottedness of those who have kept from the strife. We are perhaps more like that which the Lord intended us to be: but they are more like the Lord Himself. And if He is to have round Him a peculiar and closer band, standing with Him on Mount Sion, none will surely grudge this place to those who were not defiled with women. Among these will be not only those who have lived and served Him in holy virginity, but also the dear children whom He has claimed from us for Himself, the youths and maidens who were gathered to His side before the strife began: before their tongues had learned the language of social falsehood, or their good names been tarnished with the breath of inevitable calumny. There is one meaning which these words will not bear, and which it is surprising that any Commentator should ever have attached to them; viz. that refers to the woman mentioned below, ch. 17. So Bp. Wordsworth, Lectures, p. 284: “They have not been defiled with women. What women? it may be asked. If we proceed, we read of the woman seated on the Beast, and of the harlotry of the woman, with whom the Kings of the earth commit fornication. And soon we see her displayed in all her meretricious splendour. There then is the reply.” Similarly in his notes ad loc. The fact, that an indefinite plural sometimes points to a singular, is, as in all other figures of speech, substantiated by the undoubted requirements of the particular context: whereas here the whole context is against it: the following carrying its decisive condemnation): these ( are ) they that follow the Lamb wheresoever (for this use of , see reff.) he goeth ( seems to have lost its peculiar force, and to have been joined to the preceding, so that an indicative after it did not offend the ear.
The description has very commonly been taken as applying to the entire obedience of the elect, following their Lord to prison and to death, and wherever He may call them: so Cocceius, Grot., Vitringa, Wolf (who cites the oath of soldiers, ), Bengel, De Wette, Hengstb., Ebrard: but this exposition is surely out of place here, where not their life of conflict, but their state of glory is described. The words, as Aug [115] (in a beautiful passage, De sancta Virginitate, c. 27, vol. vi. p. 410 f., in which however he rhetorically mingles both meanings), Andreas, Zllig, Stern, Dsterd., are used of special privilege of nearness to the Person of the Lamb in glory): these were purchased from men as a first-fruit to God and to the Lamb (all have been thus purchased: but these specially as and for the purpose of being a first-fruit. The ref. James treats of a different matter, the purchase of all the redeemed as the first-fruits of creation. But these are a first-fruit among the purchased themselves), and in their mouth was not found falsehood: they are blameless (the Apostle has before him the words of Psa 14:1 ff., so strikingly similar: ; , , . These stand on Mount Sion, with Him who eminently fulfilled this character, and being in all things like Him).
[115] Augustine, Bp. of Hippo , 395 430
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Rev 14:1-5 , introduced as a foil to what precedes and as an anticipation of 21 22, is “a sort of Te Deum” (Wellhausen), a vision of the Lamb no longer as slain but triumphant (militant on the mount of Olives, Zec 14:3 f., against the nations = Rev 11:8 ; Rev 11:18 ), attended by the lite of the redeemed who had worshipped him, not the Emperor, during their life-time. The Jewish tradition underlying this oracle seems to have been cognate to that of En. Rev 1:4 f. (Greek), reflected already in Rev 7:1-8 ; it showed the rallying of the faithful remnant at mount Zion (Joe 2:32 ; Isa 11:9-12 ) after the throes of the latter days ( cf. on Rev 11:19 ). In terms of this John pictures the Christians who appear with Jesus their messiah upon earth ( cf. Rev 5:10 , Rev 20:4-6 ). Rev 14:1-5 thus hint faintly and fragmentarily at the belief that, before the general judgment and recompense of the saints (Rev 11:18 , Rev 20:11 f.), the vanguard who had borne the brunt of the struggle would enjoy a special bliss of their own. The prophet does not stop to elaborate this independent anticipation of Rev 20:4-6 , but hurries on (6 f.) to depict the negative side, viz. , the downfall of the enemy. When Caligula first attempted to enforce his worship on the Jews, the pious flung themselves on the ground, “stretching out their throats” in their readiness to die sooner than let their God be profaned (Jos. Bell . ii. 10, 4; Ant. xviii. 8, 3). John desiderates an equally dauntless temper in Christians, though they could not hope to avert, as the Jews had done, the imperial propaganda of the false prophet (Rev 13:16 f.; cf. 2Th 2 .). Martyrdom (Rev 14:13 , cf. Rev 13:15 ) was all that the majority could expect. But loyalty would bring them ultimate triumph. The passage is not simply Christian but from the hand of the prophet himself.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Rev 14:1 . Instead of the beast, the Lamb; instead of the beast’s followers and their mark, the Lamb’s followers with the divine name; instead of the pagan earth, mount Zion. The vision is based on an old Jewish apocalyptic tradition, copied by the Christian editor of 4 Esdras (2:42) but already present in the Jewish original (13:35: ipse [ i.e. , Messias] stabit super cacumen montis Sion, 39 et quoniam uidisti eum colligentem ad se aliam multitudinem pacificam, hae sunt decem tribus), which apparently described ( cf. Joe 2:32 ) a further cycle of the tradition underlying Rev 7:1-8 . The appearance of this manlike messiah on mount Zion was accompanied by the manifestation of the celestial Zion (postponed here till 21.). Thus, Rev 14:1-5 is, in some respects, a companion panel to Rev 7:9 f., though the retinue of messiah are painted in more definitely Jewish colours. They are distinguished for their testimony borne against the Imperial cultus and the contaminations of the pagan world.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Revelation Chapter 14
Next we come to chapter 14, where we have neither the counsels of God as opposed by Satan (hitherto in heaven to accuse before God, but at that day cast down unto earth), nor the plan and instruments by which Satan gives battle to those divine counsels. This we have had in Rev 12 and Rev 13 . But now we enter on another line of things. What is God doing with and for His own? Nothing? Impossible! He does what is active in good for His then purposes. God is pleased to reveal to us a variety of ways in which He will put forth His power, and send both testimony and warning suited to the crisis; and this is given with remarkable completeness throughout the seven divisions to which this chapter naturally lends itself.
The first is a full numbered multitude separated to the Lamb on mount Zion. It is no repetition of the sealed company in Rev 7 , no mere securing out of the twelve-tribed whole. Judah had a guilt which Ephraim, far away, did not share; and grace there works, as one might say, “beginning at Jerusalem.” The Lord Jesus is about to insist on His rights in the midst of Israel; and Zion is the known centre of royal grace. “Royal” is said, because it is Christ asserting His title as Son of David; but it is also royal “grace,” because it supposes the total ruin of Israel, and that the Lord in pure favour begins at Zion to gather round Himself once more. This accordingly is the first form in which God displays His action for the last days. The devil may have his Beasts and horns; God has His Lamb; and the Lamb now is not seen on the throne in heaven, or taking a book; He stands on mount Zion. It is a notable point of progress toward the kingdom that is clearly brought into view before the close. It answers more to the style of David than to the settled reign of peace in Solomon’s day. But how unintelligent to fancy that these out of Judah any more than the scaled out of Israel in chap. vii. are Christians! It is opposed, not only by internal reasons but by the structure of the book, which shows the heavenly saints changed and with the Lord Jesus (chap. 4). These saints are expressly in verse 3 distinct from the crowned elders, like the Gentile crowd in Rev 7:9-17 .
“And I saw, and, behold, the Lamb stood upon the mount Zion, and with him a hundred [and] forty-four thousand, having his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads.” They are associated with the earth-rejected Messiah; and in the vision they are seen with Him on mount Zion. It is not a question of “their” Father. No such relationship is ever found in the Apocalypse, but the Lamb’s name and “his Father’s name written on their foreheads.”
“And I heard a voice out of the heaven, as a voice of many waters, and as a voice of great thunder; and the voice which I heard [was] as of harpers harping with their harps; and they sing as a new song before the throne, and before the four living creatures and the elders: and no one could learn the song but the hundred [and] forty-four thousand that had been bought from the earth. These are they who were not defiled with women; for they are virgins.” They had not corrupted themselves; and the Lamb was their leader. With Babylonish wickedness they had nothing to do; pure in spirit they were associated with the holy Sufferer. “These are they that follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were bought from among men, first-fruits to God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are blameless.” “Before the throne of God” is spurious.
Such is the first action of God. It forms a complete remnant, not from the twelve tribes of Israel, such as we saw in Rev 7 , nor simply sealed for security against providential judgments. This is particularly out of Jews proper; first-fruits to God and the Lamb, gathered out from those guilty of His rejection. Now God answers all that and other wickedness by this merciful and honourable separation to the Lamb, who is about to be installed in His royal seat on mount Zion. They not only follow Him as Messiah, but as the holy Sufferer and rejected One.
The next scene gives us an angel with a message to Gentiles. “And I saw another angel fly in mid heaven, having an everlasting gospel to preach to those that sit on the earth, and unto every nation, and tribe, and tongue, and people.” Why is it called “everlasting”? Remember that the gospel as now preached is a special gospel in character, fulness, and time, in no way an “everlasting” gospel. Nobody ever heard the gospel of the grace of God till Jesus died, rose, and went to heaven. The gospel as it should be preached in and out of Christendom depends on the most stupendous facts ever accomplished here below, for which God waited more than four thousand years even of man’s dwelling on the earth before He would or could righteously send it forth. Consequently the gospel of His grace as we know it is never in scripture called an “everlasting gospel.” Do not most use these terms without thinking what they really mean? When they speak of the “everlasting gospel,” they have probably a vague notion that it connects us with eternity. They think it a grand and worthy epithet, conveying one really knows not what. It is a mistake, if scripture is to decide.
“Everlasting gospel” means what it says: those glad tidings which always have been and always will be true. Whatever else God has made known to man, this has always abode unchanging. The glad tidings of God since man fell were that He purposed, by the woman’s Seed, Christ Jesus, to bless man and to crush Satan. Even the end of all things will proclaim the selfsame thing. The millennium will be the display and demonstrative testimony to it. When judgment in every form is over, in the new heavens and the new earth man will be thoroughly and for ever blest, and God will be with them, their God.
The declaration of this truth, as here described, is an everlasting gospel. In the latter day it will act as setting aside the lie of Satan, who puts and would fain keep man in a position of estrangement from God. For He is morally forced to be the judge of men, instead of being the blesser of all that believe on the earth. All misrepresentation of God is the fruit of Satan’s wiles; but the everlasting gospel presents God as the blesser of man and creation. This was His word ere sin entered, and this He will certainly bring to pass (not of course for every individual). Alas! most listen to Satan and despise God’s mercy in Christ, especially such as having heard reject the gospel of His grace. And these are lost for ever. But God is love as surely as He is light: what ought He to be to all who persistently by grace honour both the Son and the Father?
The way in which the subject is spoken of here confirms this. “Fear God, and give glory to him” (there is thus the evident contradiction of idolatry); “for the hour of his judgment is come.” Then will be the downfall of those that turn from God to all the vanities of the nations, as ready to trust in the creature as to distrust the true God. “And do homage to him that made the heaven, and the earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters” It is the universal message of God to man, founded on His creative glory. The solemn threat of His speedy judgments is a ground for pressing on the defiled conscience of man the claim of the honour solely due to Him.
There are no doubt many who think it an extraordinary circumstance that God should send out such a message as this in days rapidly approaching. Let us consider why it is to be so. Men conjecture out of their own position and judge from their own circumstances. But none can understand aright as long as he reasons and concludes thus. Not so is any part of the Bible understood, least of all perhaps prophecy. If it be a question of our conduct or duty, it is indispensable to stand on our proper relationship; we must abide carefully in the place that God has given us, while bowing to the word of God that applies to us there. How can we act intelligently or rightly as Christians unless we, knowing what it means, believe as Christians? We only glorify our God and Father just so far as we as children look up to Him as our Father, and as saints own Him as our God. This is surely true.
But here we no longer find Christians on earth There are elect Jews; there are nations preached to, along with “those that sit [or, are settled] on the earth.” That is, there are men in fixed unbelief under this designation, as well as the mass of nations, tribes, tongues, and peoples. It seems then that God comes down, as it were, to meet them on the lowest possible ground of His own truth. They are called to fear God and give glory to Him and this is on the footing that He is Judge, just about to deal with His own world. He calls upon them to do homage to the Creator, away from the idolatry of those that worship the creature.
At this present moment there is the working of a leaven that will end in idolatry, especially (if there be in this a difference) for the higher and educated orders of this country to drag into it the lower also. In the humbler classes their gross love for sensible objects, pleasant sounds, impressive processions, and striking shows prepares them for it. But there is the active instilling of a spirit, no doubt more subtle and refined among educated men, which will infallibly school them into naturalistic idolatry before many years are over. There is, on the one hand, the material tendency of modern science and literature; there is, on the other, the condescending patronage of times that are past: the excessive cultivation of art, music, flower-shows, the revival of Greek plays and aesthetics generally, perhaps of the Olympic games, etc. On these dangerous tracks all that is now energetically leavening the world tends to bring man back to heathenism again. The truth of Christ is to their minds severe and exclusive. How much more “light and sweetness” to have a Pantheon for Him and all other objects of veneration! Schiller strove for it, and Goethe with his maxim of “the good of evil,” and Max Mller with his philosophy of religions.
However this may sound to those most confident in their unbelief, we must remember that another cause of a most solemn nature is plainly revealed: God is going to pour out a judicial delusion on Christendom. It is what the apostle calls the apostasy, or “falling away”; and it is at hand. He will not only inflict severe blows of judgment but give men up to believe a lie – the great lie of the devil – the easy-going god of indifference to man, if indeed there be a god. The great truth of all times is that God, the Creator of all, the God who has now revealed Himself in Christ and by redemption, alone is the due object of worship and service. So far then is this message from being a strange thing, that it appears exactly suitable to man as he will then be situated, and is no less appropriate to God’s wisdom and goodness.
Another consideration perhaps may help some as connected with this and confirmatory of it, founded on the last part of Mat 25 , where all the nations are called up before the Son of Man when He sits as King on the throne of His glory. Surely this cannot be in heaven but on earth: how could “all the nations” be seen on high? It will be remembered that He tells those whom He designates as the “sheep” that, inasmuch as they did what they had done to His “brethren,” it was really to Him; as on the other hand the insults fell on Him which were aimed at them. These acts of kindness, or of hostile indifference, will be owned by the Lord when He judges the quick. It is no use for people to call it the general judgment, or the judgment of our works. It has nothing to do with us who believe on Him now. The one principle before us in this scripture is His dealing with the living Gentiles, or all nations according to their ways with His brethren. To act aright then will require real power of God through grace. The pressure against His messengers at that time will be enormous. If any receive them well, it will be from faith, however small may be the measure of their faith. That to honour His brethren is virtually to honour Himself, they had not themselves known. When they stand in presence of the King, how astonished they are that He should regard what was done to the messengers of His gospel in the last days as if done to Himself! When men are raised from the dead, they know as they are known; but these are the nations alive in flesh. Compare Mat 24:14 .
Certainly these Gentiles were wrought in by divine grace, yet evidently they are far from what is called “intelligent.” How often must one beware of making too much of this! What a constant snare it is to slip into unconscious or inconsiderate criticism! Men are apt to give themselves an exaggerated importance on the score of their knowledge. God attaches a far higher value to the heed paid to the Lord Himself, and to those He sends out. It is a crucial test. Then most of all it will be so, because these messages will go forth to the nations on the earth before the end comes. Growingly lifted up and self-satisfied, the nations are summoned by Jewish messengers (poor and contemptible in most eyes), who will solemnly proclaim the kingdom just at hand; for the King is coming in person to judge the quick apart from and before the judgment of the dead. Some souls here and there will receive them, not only treating them in love, but this because they receive the message. The power of the Spirit alone gives them faith. None less than God Himself inclines their heart. Accordingly the Lord here refers to its reception, with the grace that accompanied it, as evidence of their heeding Himself in the persons of His brethren, the messengers.
This is similar to, if not the same as, the everlasting gospel. It is called by Matthew the “gospel of the kingdom.” The “gospel of the kingdom” and the “everlasting gospel” are substantially like. In the Revelation it is thus described, because it was always in the purpose of God, through the bruised Seed of the woman, to crush the foe and to bless man himself here below. This Matthew, in accordance with his design, calls rather the “gospel of the kingdom,” because Christ is going to be King of a kingdom prepared from the foundation of the world. S. John, it would seem, calls it an “everlasting gospel,” because it is in contrast with special messages from time to time (Heb 4:2 ), as well as with all that had to do with man as he is here below. At this most corrupt time the suited glad tidings will be sent forth, and certain souls will receive it by God’s grace. Thus the second scene in the chapter is the proclamation of an everlasting gospel to those settled down on the earth, and to the nations, etc., as the first section was the separation of a remnant of Jews to the Lamb on mount Zion. Both point, as do other visions of the book, to the various operations of God’s goodness, and to the different groups of blessing He will form. Is it incredible that God should thus work in honour of Christ the Lamb? How good is the God we adore!
The third section, which may be passed over with comparatively few words, is the warning of Babylon’s fall. “And another, a second angel, followed, saying, Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, which hath made all nations drink of the wine of the fury of her fornication.” It is the first notice of man’s mock-church, once and long the chief source of ecclesiastical corruption, and still further lapsing into Gentile abominations in the future. But we shall hear in due time unmistakable marks and instructive details of an object so repulsive to God, and so deceptive for the natural man.
The fourth is a warning of fatal danger from the Beast. “And the third angel followed them, saying with a great voice, If any one doeth homage to the beast and his image, and receiveth a mark on his forehead, or upon his hand, he also shall drink of the wine of the fury of God, that hath been mingled unmixed in the cup of his anger, and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone before the holy angels and before the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up unto ages of ages: and they have no rest day and night, who do homage to the beast and his image, and if any one receiveth the mark of his name.” So far these divine dealings go in pairs; as the work among the Jews, and then a final testimony to the Gentiles (though here we have angelic intervention, not in the first case); next is sent the warning about Babylon, and another yet more urgent about the Beast. “Here is the endurance of the saints, that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” Grace and love could guard them, though they be confessors of a faith by no means up to the measure of the “one faith” of Christians, but suited of God to their day.
Then comes the fifth, which is very different. It is a declaration, that “blessed are the dead that die in the Lord, from henceforth.” From this time nobody that belongs to the Lord is going to die, and those that die in the Lord (i.e. in fact all who have thus died since Rev 4:5 ) are on the eve of blessedness, not by personal exemption but by sharing the first resurrection and the reign with Christ, which terminates persecution and death for His name. The wicked must pay the wages of sin, and be destroyed by the judgments of God; but there shall be no more dying in the Lord after this. As a class these are to be blessed (not to die) henceforth. “And I heard a voice out of the heaven saying, Write, Blessed [are] the dead which die in [the] Lord, from henceforth. Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; for their works follow with them.” There is an end of such sorrow and labour: the Lord is going to take the world and all things in hand.
Accordingly the next scene runs, “And I saw, and, behold, a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sitting son-of-man-like, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Send thy sickle, and reap; for the hour to reap is come; for the harvest of the earth is dried. And he that sat upon the cloud thrust (or, put) his sickle upon the earth; and the earth was reaped.” It is not here a question of gathering in. One Son-of-Man-like is seen with the crown of gold, King of righteousness, not yet manifested as King of peace, which will surely follow in its season (Heb 7:2 ).
Then comes the close of all these things. “And another angel came out of the temple that [is] in the heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the altar, that had authority over the fire; and called with a great voice to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Send thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripened.” This goes further. How growingly intense is the repeated “sharp sickle”! For the harvest the call was out of the temple; here it is out of the temple that is in the heaven. It is not only wrath on earth but from heaven. Another angel comes out from the altar (i.e. the place of human responsibility, where God manifests Himself to sinners in the sacrifice of Christ, judging sins but in grace). O ye that idolise forms and rites, postures and impostures, beware; yours is not worship in spirit and truth! Could an apostle if here recognise you as keeping the unity of the Spirit,
So much the more tremendous is His vengeance on the earthly religionists who despise Christ and the cross in word and in deed. This angel has authority over the fire, the sign of detective and consuming judgment. “And the angel put his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and put [it] into the great winepress of the fury of God. And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress unto the bridles of the horses for a thousand six hundred stades” (or furlongs).
In short then, if we sum up this series we have here the harvest and the vintage, the two great forms of divine judgment at the close: the harvest being that judgment which discerns between the just and the unjust; and the vintage being the infliction of unmingled wrath on apostate religion, “the vine of the earth,” the object of God’s special abhorrence. For in plain and direct terms we have seven distinct acts in which God will interfere in the way, first of grace for a double testimony; then of warnings to the world; next also of comfort as to His deceased; finally of judging the evil results, as far as the quick are concerned, at the advent of the Son of Man.
Here closes the striking series of Rev. 12 – 14, which are not in historical sequence of the successive Trumpets, or at least of the seventh, but go back to give us the secret springs of the crisis to which we were brought generally in the seventh Trumpet, the plans of Satan when he lost access to heaven for ever, and what God meanwhile does for His glory to the end of the age. Then we resume a fresh and final septenary of divine inflictions, the seven last Bowls of God’s fury to be poured out on man’s apostate and impenitent iniquity.
Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Rev 14:1-5
1Then I looked, and behold, the Lamb was standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads. 2And I heard a voice from heaven, like the sound of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder, and the voice which I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps. 3And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders; and no one could learn the song except the one hundred and forty-four thousand who had been purchased from the earth. 4These are the ones who have not been defiled with women, for they have kept themselves chaste. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These have been purchased from among men as first fruits to God and to the Lamb. 5And no lie was found in their mouth; they are blameless.
Rev 14:1 “the Lamb” This is a reference to the Messiah (cf. Rev 5:6; Rev 5:8; Rev 5:12-13; Rev 13:8; Isa 53:7; Joh 1:29; Joh 1:36; 1Pe 1:18-19).
“standing on Mount Zion” There have been numerous theories identifying this phrase.
1. that it stands for Mt. Moriah and the Temple area in Jerusalem (cf. Isa 24:23; Joe 2:32)
2. that it stands for heavenly Jerusalem (cf. Heb 11:10; Heb 11:16; Heb 12:22-23; Heb 13:14; Gal 4:26)
3. that it is an apocalyptic symbol found in the non-canonical book of 2Es 2:42-47; 2Es 13:35; 2Es 13:39-40
4. that it refers to the OT passages which speak of the end-time gathering of the people of God (cf. Psalms 48; Isa 24:23; Joe 2:32; Mic 4:1; Mic 4:7; Oba 1:17; Oba 1:21)
5. that the background, like several other passages in this section, is Psalms 2, particularly Rev 14:6.
Remember that commentators relate each of these visions to either
1. the OT passages or Palestinian places
2. intertestamental apocalyptic literature
3. first century Greco-Roman history
For me these visions of OT things beginning with chapter 6, relate to the NT people of God (believing Jews and Gentiles), the saints, the church. In this particular case, it is an allusion to the heavenly temple (cf. Heb 8:2; Heb 9:11; Heb 9:24).
“with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand” This is the same group of the redeemed as in Rev 5:9; of the sealed in Rev 7:4-8 (see full note at Rev 7:4); of those washed in the Lamb’s blood in Rev 7:14-17. Therefore, in my opinion, this stands for the NT people of God, the saints, the church. For the full note on the identity of the 144,000, see Rev 7:4. In the earlier references they were sealed but still persecuted, but here they are victorious!
“having His name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads” Does this refer to one name or to two? It may refer to the titles of Isa 9:6, which relate to both the Father and the Son. These are those who have been sealed and belong to God (cf. Revelation 7). See note at Rev 7:2.
Rev 14:2 “I heard a voice from heaven, like” These descriptive phrases were used of God’s voice in Eze 43:2, of Jesus’ voice in Rev 1:15, and of the heavenly multitudes’ voices in Rev 19:6. Often it is used to denote that the speaker is in heaven (cf. Rev 4:5; Rev 11:19; Rev 16:8).
Rev 14:3 “they sang a new song before the throne” This is an allusion to Rev 5:9. The “they” could refer to (1) the angelic creatures who sing the song in Rev 5:9 or (2) the song of the one hundred and forty-four thousand in the concluding part of Rev 14:3; Rev 15:2. This new song is an allusion to Isa 42:10 and possibly Psa 33:3; Psa 40:3; Psa 96:1; Psa 98:1; Psa 144:9; Psa 149:1. The promised new age of the Spirit has come!
“elders” See Special Topic at Rev 4:4.
“who had been purchased from the earth” This is the OT concept of a near relative purchasing a family member’s release (go’el, i.e., Ruth and Boaz). It is used of those for whom Christ died (cf. Rev 5:9; Rev 7:14). See Special Topic: Ransom/Redeem at Rev 5:9.
Rev 14:4 “These are the ones who have not been defiled with women” There has been much discussion over this verse because it seems to imply that this is a select, celibate group of males out of the 144,000 of chapter 7. However, I think that these phrases can be explained in symbolic, or at least, in OT terms, and were never meant to be taken literally. The phrase “had not been defiled with women” can be understood in several ways.
1. it refers literally to celibacy
2. it refers to spiritual adultery with the beast or the great whore (cf. Rev 14:8; Rev 17:2; Rev 18:9)
3. it refers to specific comments made to the seven churches (cf. Rev 2:14; Rev 2:20; Rev 2:22; Rev 3:4)
4. it refers to OT ritual purification for worship or battle (cf. Exo 19:14-15; Deu 23:9-10; 1Sa 21:4-5; 2Sa 11:6-13
5. it is simply an allusion to an OT title for the people of God, “the virgin daughter of Zion” (cf. 2Ki 19:21; Jer 18:13; Lam 2:13; Amo 5:2; 2Co 11:2; Eph 5:27).
It must be asserted that sexual intercourse between married partners is not an unspiritual activity. Sexuality (marriage) is God’s idea, His way of filling the earth, His command (cf. Gen 1:28; Gen 9:1). Celibacy is surely a spiritual gift for ministry (cf. 1 Corinthians 7), but it is not a holier state. Greek asceticism is not biblical (neither is pre-marital or extra-marital sexual activity)!
“These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes” This speaks of discipleship and service (cf. Joh 7:17; Joh 10:4).
“from among men as first fruits to God” This term was used in the OT to show God’s ownership of the entire crop (cf. Exo 23:19; 34:76). In the NT it refers to the church (cf. Heb 12:23; Jas 1:18), the people of Jesus, who are the first fruits of the resurrection (cf. 1Co 15:20; 1Co 15:23; Rev 1:5).
Rev 14:5 “no lie was found in their mouth” There are several possible origins for this metaphor:
1. it is related to a similar phrase in Rev 21:27; Rev 22:15
2. it is related to Emperor worship where Christians never yielded to the command of the persecutors to say, “Caesar is Lord”
3. it is symbolic of OT defilement (cf. Psa 32:2; Zep 3:13)
4. it may be a reference to unbelief as in Rom 1:25; 1Jn 2:22
“they are blameless” This is literally “without defect” (cf. Php 3:6). Originally it referred to sacrificial animals, but came to be used metaphorically of humans (cf. Noah, Gen 6:9; Gen 6:17 and Job, Job 1:1). It is applied to Jesus in Heb 9:14 and 1Pe 1:19. This is another way of referring to a Christlike life. Christlikeness is God’s will for His people (cf. Lev 19:2; Deu 18:13; Mat 5:48; 1Pe 1:16).
SPECIAL TOPIC: BLAMELESS, INNOCENT, GUILTLESS, WITHOUT REPROACH
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
looked = saw. App-133.
a = the, as all the texts.
stood = standing.
mount Sion. Compare Heb 12:22.
hundred, &c. See Rev 7:3-8.
His . . . name. The texts read “His name and His Father’s name”. in = upon. App-104.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
1-20.] THE CONTRAST: THE BLESSEDNESS, AND THE COUNTER-AGENCY OF THE SAINTS OF GOD. THE HARVEST AND THE VINTAGE OF THE EARTH. This is not entirely another vision, but an introduction of a new element, one of comfort and joy, upon the scene of the last. And thus it must be viewed: with reference to the persecution by the beast which is alluded to in its course, Rev 14:9 ff. It is also anticipatory, first containing reference to the mystic Babylon, hereafter to become the subject of prophecy in detail; and to the consummation of punishment and reward, also to be treated in detail hereafter. It is general in its character, reaching forward close to the time of the end, treating compendiously of the torment of the apostates and the blessedness of the holy dead, and leading, by its concluding section, which treats of the harvest and the vintage of the earth, to the vision of the seven last vials, now immediately to follow.
It naturally divides itself into three sections: of which the first is,
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Chapter 14
And I looked, and, lo, there was a Lamb standing on the mount Zion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads ( Rev 14:1 ).
Now back in chapter seven, we remember that these one hundred and forty-four thousand were sealed of God in their foreheads. And the angel was commanded not to hurt the earth until those could be sealed. And he saw them being sealed in their foreheads, the one hundred and forty-four thousand. That is twelve thousand from each of the tribes. So, there is no reason at all not to believe that these one hundred and forty-four thousand are the same group that we saw back in chapter seven sealed in their foreheads. Now here we are told what the seal is. The seal is the name of the Father written in their foreheads.
And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters ( Rev 14:2 ),
Jesus is in chapter one, as He spoke, His voice was as many waters.
the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps: And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the eaRuth ( Rev 14:2-3 ).
Now, they are there and they are singing an exclusive song. They have an exclusive relationship with the Lord. They were sealed and they were preserved during a portion of the great tribulation period. And so they have that special relationship with God and they can sing of that special relationship.
In the same token we the church have a special relationship and we have our own song that no one can sing, except the church. Our song is the song of redemption through the blood of Jesus Christ, and we find it back in chapter five. And they sang a new song saying, “Worthy is the Lamb to take the scroll and loose the seals, for he was slain, and has redeemed us by his blood out of all the nations, tongues, tribes and people, and has made us unto our God kings and priests and we shall reign with him upon the earth”( Rev 5:13 ). That is a song exclusive for the church. The one hundred and forty-four thousand cannot sing that song. They have got their own.
We find the martyred saints have their own song in chapter seven. The poor angels are left out of all of these songs. They can only join the chorus. “Worthy is the Lamb to receive glory, and honor, and power, and dominion, and authority and might and all”. They can join the chorus, but they can’t sing the verse. That is ours, the worthiness of the Lamb who has redeemed us by his blood. It is a song of redemption belonging to the church.
Now, these have their own songs. We can’t join in, but we can listen as they declare the greatness of God and the preservation during the time of great tribulation.
These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb [that is out of this Great Tribulation period] ( Rev 14:4 ).
Now there are several groups that seek to identify themselves as the one hundred and forty-four thousand. Jehovah witnesses have sought to identify themselves as the one hundred and forty-four thousand. Herbert W. Armstrong seeks to identify himself as the one hundred and forty-four thousand with his followers. And several groups have sought this identity, but very out of sorts to then follow through and make it possible for Herbert Armstrong.
He then embraces the anglo-Israel, British-Israel concept that the supposed lost tribes are actually the European nations. And those of the tribe of Dan came to Denmark, and Denmark is literally Dan’s mark. So, the people are called Danish or Dan-ish. And the word “ish” in Hebrew is man. So, you have Dan’s man. The Danish people are the tribe of Dan. I would not receive much comfort out of that if I were a Dane, because they are the one tribe that is not sealed of the one hundred and forty-four thousand. There are Engl-ish, and Swed-ish. Now I don’t know which tribe is Swede. They say the “ish” at the end of the name is meaning man in Hebrew, so that makes them of that tribe. I think he is of the tribe Foolish.
“Virgins following the Lamb whithersoever he goes”. Now it could be that the parable of the ten virgins fits in here some place. They followed the Lamb whithersoever he goes.
In the oriental weddings, or what they call oriental, the Mid-eastern, they have a big celebration. Usually the wedding feast would go on for several days, but then the groom would finally take off and get the bride and come for her and then they would put them in this carrier and carry them around town. The bride never knew exactly when he was coming during this period of time, so she had to always be ready. And she would be there with all of her unmarried girl friends waiting excitedly for these guys to come up the street with the groom. He is now coming for his bride. We know he is coming. Don’t exactly know when. As they would then bear the bride and groom through the streets, the virgins, the bridesmaids, would all follow after. It was just a part of the whole ceremony. They were not the bride, but they followed the bride and the groom.
So, these one hundred and forty-four thousand are not the bride of Christ. The church is the bride of Christ quite obviously in chapter nineteen. But these are virgins, which do follow the procession. They follow the Lamb being the firstfruits unto God and unto the Lamb out of the Great Tribulation period.
And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God ( Rev 14:5 ).
You say, “Oh, lucky”. No, you are too. Now unto him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. When the Lord presents you before the Father, He is going to present you faultless. You say, “Impossible”. Yes, that is what Jesus said, “With man it is impossible, but with God all things are possible” ( Mat 19:26 ). Peter said, “Who can be saved then?”( Mat 19:25 ). It is glorious to realize that the Lord is presenting me faultless before the Father. Before the throne of God, I will be presented faultless for I will be in Christ.
Now, these appear faultless before the throne of God also speaking of that redemptive work of Jesus even in their lives.
And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those that dwell upon the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people ( Rev 14:6 ).
A local television station recently was advertising that they were going to put this little angel up in the sky. And their satellite, that they had raised so much money for, was this angel that was going to fly through carrying the everlasting gospel. Their own satellite up there. Unfortunately, it got lost in its orbit. And they haven’t been able to find that angel. Let’s hope it is not a fallen angel.
I think that this is not a satellite launched from the space shuttle, made by RCA or Hughes, but I believe that this is an actual angelic being. Now the interesting thing to me is that he has the everlasting gospel to preach to those that dwell upon the earth, to every nation, kindred, tongue and people.
Now what did Jesus say would have to happen before the end could come? “And the gospel of the kingdom must be preached to all nations and then shall the end come” ( Mat 24:14 ). But interestingly enough, Jesus was talking about this same period of time, the last period of time during the Great Tribulation. It is all in context with the Great Tribulation. And the gospel shall be preached as a witness to all nations.
Now, the church has taken that as a challenge and they said that Jesus can’t come again until we have preached the gospel to every nation. Now, I believe that we should seek to preach the gospel to every nation, but I do not believe that our failure to do so is hindering the return of Jesus Christ. Because I believe that that particular, “and the gospel shall be preached as a witness to all nations” is a reference to this angel that flies through the midst of heaven declaring the everlasting gospel to all the nations, kindreds and people.
Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made the heaven, and eaRuth ( Rev 14:7 ),
Now, men foolishly are worshipping the heavens. They are worshipping the earth. They are worshipping, as Paul said, “the creature more than the creator”( Rom 1:25 ). Worship the God who made the heavens. That is the rational thing to do. It is irrational to worship creation. Creation testifies of a creator. The evolutionist worships creation because they did not want to retain God in their mind. God gives them over to reprobate minds. “Professing themselves to be wise, they become fools” ( Rom 1:22 ), because they worship and serve the creature more than the creator who is blessed forever more.
So, in the proclaiming of the everlasting gospel they are given words of wisdom to worship Him who has made the heaven and earth.
and the sea, [and the river, the streams and the lakes]. And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all of the nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication ( Rev 14:7-8 ).
And we will get in chapter seventeen complete details on this fallen Babylon, as we read the very same thing. And we are given details on the fall of this great religious system of Babylon.
And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worships the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, 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 ( Rev 14:9-10 ):
Now, this means that God is going to give every man a chance. The first angel proclaims the everlasting gospel. Now, this angel warns man against worshipping the beast or taking his mark, so that if a man does take the mark and does worship the beast or his image, he is doing it knowingly. He is doing it willfully in willful rebellion against God, because he has been deceived into thinking that in the final conflict that will soon be taking place, that Satan and the forces of darkness will be able to overcome the forces of light.
You listen to those involved in satanic cults and satanic worship today and they do say they are winning. Just look around and see. They think that Christianity doesn’t have a chance. They think they are on the winning side, and they are advocating their victory.
I heard some kid on Donohue the other day. He was a Satan worshiper, and he was declaring we are winning. He said, “Just look at the world in which you live, we are winning. Evil is going to triumph over good.” And they are declaring their victory. And they are actually deceived into believing that they will be able to triumph. Thus, when the angel goes through the skies warning them they’re taking the mark, after that will be a deliberate willful act of rebellion against God.
That is why at this final opportunity the gospel will be proclaimed. God would not proclaim it unless there were the opportunity of being saved. And there is that final rejection that identifying themselves against God, and thus the wrath of God is to be poured out, the cup of His indignation. Indignation is an Old Testament word for the “great tribulation”. You find it used many times in the Old Testament in reference to the tribulation.
and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: And the smoke of their torment ascends up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receives the mark of his name. Here is the patience of the saints ( Rev 14:10-12 ):
We were also told earlier that the patience of the saints is to know that they that incarcerate them will be incarcerated and so forth. They that kill with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here are the patience of the saints at this point.
here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus Christ. And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write ( Rev 14:12-13 ),
Now, the three angels flying through the midst of heaven, but now this is another voice from heaven.
Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from hencefoRuth ( Rev 14:13 ):
At this point because of the Great Tribulation that is going to come upon the earth those that are martyred by their refusal, blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, who die for their testimony for the Lord.
[they have ceased from their labours; or] they rest from their labours; and their works do follow them ( Rev 14:13 ).
Now, this is confirmed by the Spirit. “Yea, saith the Spirit.”
And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud there was one sitting like the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped ( Rev 14:14-16 ).
An interesting passage again, parallel passage in the book of Isaiah of him who was coming, his garments were like those who had been treading in the winepress. Jesus when He comes is coming to clean up the earth and to establish his kingdom. And here is pronounced that the time has come, “thrust in your sickle and reap the earth”.
And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe ( Rev 14:18 ).
Man has come to the fullness of rebellion against God and the time of God’s final judgments have come and so the order to thrust in the sickle.
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. And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs ( Rev 14:19-20 ).
From Mageddo to Edom. And we read in Isaiah’s prophecy that he will be coming from Edom with his garment stained with blood. Who is this that comes with garments stained with blood? In Isaiah’s prophecy, “from Edom to Armageddon is one thousand six hundred furlongs”( Isa 63:1 ). And when this judgment comes, the armies and the nations of the world will have gathered for a final conflict seeking really to overthrow the Lord on His return.
In Psalms two, God said, “Why do the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing. For they have gathered against the Lord and against his anointed,”( Psa 2:1 ) His Messiah, His Christ. The people imagining a vain thing, that they could actually overthrow Jesus Christ and prohibit Him coming and establishing His reign. Knowing that He is coming again, knowing that He is coming to that area, they are going to gather together, and they actually feel that they can overthrow Him. People have imagined a vain thing, for they have gathered together against the Lord and against His Christ. But “He saith unto me, Ask of me and I will give you the heathen for thine inheritance and the utter most parts of the earth for thy possession” ( Psa 2:8 ). For the Lord in heaven shall laugh for He shall have them in derision.
The stupidity of Satan and man thinking that they could actually overthrow God. God will just chuckle at the thought. “
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
Rev 14:1. And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb
John always writes of Jesus as the Lamb. His Lord is to him in his sacrificial character always the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world by the shedding of his blood. I looked, and, lo, a Lamb
Rev 14:1. Stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Fathers name written in their foreheads. The Revised Version has it, having his name, and the name of his Father, written on their foreheads. Now they are known to be the Lords; on earth that fact was questioned, but his name is written on their foreheads now. Sometimes they themselves had to question it, but now it is apparent to all, the distinguishing mark is stamped upon their brow:
having his Fathers name written in their foreheads.
Rev 14:2. And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps:
It was very loud, but very sweet. It is not easy in earthly music to blend the two: but in heaven, all the energies of living men shall be thrown into the song; and yet it shall be sweet as the touch of a minstrel when he lays his fingers gently among the strings of the harp.
Rev 14:3. And they sung as it were a new song before the throne,
They could not sing any old song there. The songs of earth, sweet as some of them are, are not good enough to be sung in heaven. With a new experience, new delights, and a clearer vision of their Lord, they must have a new song.
Rev 14:3. And before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.
Heaven is not the place to learn that song; it must be learned on the earth You must learn here the notes of free grace and dying love; and when you have mastered their melody, you will be able to offer to the Lord the tribute of a grateful heart, even in heaven, and blend it with the harmonies eternal. Suppose, for a moment, that you could go there, and that you were unprepared to sing the new song, you would have to say, I cannot join in the chorus, for I do not know the tune. You must learn the song now, the new song of praise unto our God, or you cannot be admitted there. I should not expect, if I went down to the Handel Festival, for the conductor to permit me to take a place in the choir. He would ask me Can you sing? Have you ever rehearsed the matchless music of Handel? and when I answered No, he would tell me to stand aside; so you must learn the music of Calvary, you must learn the music of the name of Jesus, or you cannot sing in heaven. No man could learn the song but the redeemed from the earth; not redeemed, you see, by a general redemption, of which some so loudly talk; but redeemed from among men by a special redemption, which took them out from the rest of mankind, by a price paid for them, so that they were bought as others were not bought, by the precious blood of Jesus, as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot.
Rev 14:4. These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins.
They were pure and chaste in the sight of God.
Rev 14:4. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth.
His choice attendants, his body-guard.
Rev 14:4-5. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no guile:
No lie. They were truthful, they were truth-speakers.
Rev 14:5. For they are without fault
Or, blemish.
Rev 14:5. Before the throne of God.
Like him with whom they associated, the Lamb of God, they were without blemish and without spot.
Rev 14:6. And I saw
What wonderful sights John saw! I do not wonder that, he saw them; he had leaned his bead on Christs bosom, and that qualified him to see what you and I cannot see. Near communion to Christ is the best qualification for a vision of mystery. Get thee into the very heart of Christ, and thou shalt see wonderful things: I saw
Rev 14:6-7. Another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach, unto them. that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him;
Is this the gospel? It is one version, evidently, of the everlasting gospel. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. Truly, to worship him as he reveals himself, is true godliness; and in it lies all the gospel: Having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him.
Rev 14:7-8. For the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters. And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen,
This will not happen till the gospel is fully preached. Superstition does not come down unless true religion is set up. One angel proclaims the everlasting gospel; the next declares that the great system of error is fallen: Babylon is fallen.
Rev 14:8. That great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
You know that gigantic system of error which professes to come from God, and to be the only true church; but it must fall.
Rev 14:9-10. And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, 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:
They sometimes say that we talk very terribly about the world to come. Do we say more than the Scripture says? Do we use more terrific emblems than the Holy Ghost uses when he speaks after this fashion? This is a generation that is not to be pleased, neither do we seek to please it. Gods wrath is terrible, and our language cannot be too strong to express the overwhelming power of it.
Rev 14:11. And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
Keep you true to Christ; wear his name in your forehead. Follow no system of error; do not be deluded either by Ritualism or Rationalism, by superstition or by unbelief. Keep close to the Word of God, and ask to be taught of the Spirit of God.
Rev 14:12-13. 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.
Accursed were they who carried the mark of the beast, and went after falsehood; but blessed are they who follow Christ, even though they die. Dying in the Lord, their works survive them, and they themselves live for ever with him.
Rev 14:14. And I looked, and behold a while cloud,
One of these days, every eye will look and see what is here described. A little time may elapse, but it will soon be past. How quickly years fly away! Think where you will be in the day when you, too, will say, I looked, and behold a white cloud.
Rev 14:14-16. And upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped.
This is the gathering in of the godly, who are Christs wheat. He himself reaps them; no angel, mark you, but himself, with his own sharp sickle and with his own dear hand. These are his sheaves, he sowed for wheat; he himself was that wheat which fell into the ground and died, and brought forth much fruit. So he, into his own bosom, gathers his own sheaves with his own hand. May I be among them! Make that your prayer tonight. May I be one golden ear in Christs great harvest!
Rev 14:17. And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle.
Not this time the King, but an angel; not the Son of man that sat on the cloud, but an angel, the servant of God, deputed to execute vengeance.
Rev 14:18-19. And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with, a lend cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe. And the angel thrust in, his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth,
This is the gathering together of the ungodly, those wicked clusters that ripen in sin, and that become red with iniquity. Christ does not gather them, you see. That is left to an angel to do; he thrust in his Sickle, and gathered the grapes of the earth.
Rev 14:19. And cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.
Can you see the clusters flung into the winepress? Will you be there? God grant that neither you nor I may, in that terrible day, be among the clusters of the wicked!
Rev 14:20. And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.
So terrible will be even the preliminary destruction of the ungodly. Though they grow in clusters, yet shall they perish. Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto each one of us. Amen.
Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible
Rev 14:1. , …) They are the same CXLIV. thousands which are mentioned ch. 7, but now in a much more splendid condition; wherefore they are mentioned without the article : just as in ch. Rev 17:3, , the beast, without the article , is the same beast as that which is mentioned in ch. Rev 13:1, but which afterwards became very unlike its former self.- ) This was wanting to the Codex Reuchlinianus,1[152] although it does not seem to have been wanting to the more ancient MS., from which it was copied. For, instead of the subsequent participle , Erasmus, in his 1James , 2 d, and 3d Editions, put . And this appears to have been inserted in an improper place from the margin, which in smaller [fainter] character, frequently used in margins, reminded [the reader] that the words were to be supplied; just as shortly afterwards, in Rev 14:6, at the same Codex Reuchlinianus introduced from other places the marginal gloss . It is more probable, in Wolfs opinion, that ought to be attributed to a gloss. For it is well known, he says, that marks of this kind were accustomed to be burnt in either on the forehead or hand. And some one wishing to point out this custom, thought fit to explain the word by . I reply: If a name, which is being burnt in, can be expressed by , that which has been burnt in cannot thus be expressed. It is a matter of little consequence: it is admitted to be a gloss on both sides; the only question is as to its origin. My own view serves towards vindicating the reading respecting the name of the Lamb. Some one, relying on the reading of Erasmus, which does not contain the name of the Lamb, ventured to hope that the name of the Father, and not that of the Lamb, would hereafter come into favour. That enemy of the Nicene faith, and of the glory of Christ, was deceived. Nay, indeed both the name of the Lamb and the name of His Father are written on the foreheads of the CXLIV. thousands.
[152] 1 These words (His name and) are omitted by Rec. Text; but ABCh Vulg. Orig. 4,2a, Cypr. 294 support them. Orig. 4,2d has for .-E.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Rev 14:1-5
SECTION TWO
THE SAINTS’ ULTIMATE SUCCESS DEPICTED
Rev 14:1-20
1. THE REDEEMED DESCRIBED
Rev 14:1-5
Note: The leading purpose of chapter 12 was to present Satan, symbolically described as a dragon, as the real enemy of the true church. As the author of evil he would naturally be the source of all opposition to the truth. Those through whom the opposition is manifested are but the agents through whom he works. In chapter 13 we have pictured, under the symbols of two beasts, the political and religious earthly agents that were to be the outstanding mediums for Satan’s efforts. These were found to be the Roman Empire–pagan and “Christianized”–and the apostate church–the Catholic hierarchy. With such deadly struggles forecast, the saints would have been overcome with fear, if the symbolic story had ended at this point. Evidently the purpose of the present chapter was to encourage the Christians to faithfulness under all conditions by assurance that the truth would ultimately prevail, and the persevering be saved. While this was de-signed to benefit especially those who met the persecutions during the 1,260-year period, it will have the same effect in helping all Christians to endure to the end of life.
1 And I saw, and behold, the Lamb standing on the mount Zion,–We should be continually remindful that what John saw in the vision was the symbol; what it represents is a different matter. The two should not be confused. “I saw” means that another vision appeared. “The Lamb” refers to Christ (Rev 5:6; Rev 12:11); it is here contrasted with the beast (Rev 13:11) that had horns like a lamb, but spake as a dragon. The expression “mount Zion” is used only here and Heb 12:22. Jerusalem, because partly builded upon the literal mount Zion, is also referred to as mount Zion. It was the seat of government and place of worship for the old covenant, and typical of the church. (Gal 4:26.) Verses 2 and 3 strongly indicate that this scene was in heaven. If so, Mount Zion is used typically to represent the saint’s final abode. Compare 4:2, 3.
and with him a hundred and forty and four thousand, having his name, and the name of his Father, written on their foreheads.–The names of the Lamb and of the Father writ-ten upon their foreheads show that they were acceptable to both Christ and God. This and the place where they were standing clearly indicate that they were redeemed and had gained the ultimate victory–were safe from any further attacks from either beast. See notes on Rev 13:16 regarding mark of beast on forehead. In Rev 7:4-9 is also mentioned the same number as having been “sealed” from the twelve tribe, after which is mentioned a numberless multitude from all peoples–and Gentiles. In our present text only the 144,000 are mentioned. Whether they are the same that are mentioned in the seventh chapter or not is immaterial, for in both places the purpose is to encourage faithfulness by foretelling the final success true saints will have. The number is doubtless symbolical and means an incalculably large multitude.
2 And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder:–Whether or not the whole vision was seen in heaven, “Zion” being used typically, the voice John heard came from heaven. From verse 3 the natural conclusion is that the voice was singing the new song before the throne. The language shows that it was a song of sublime powers. It filled the air as the roaring of mighty waters or the waves of the ocean. The sound was not the roaring of waters, but “as” or similar to such sound. Its majesty was also indicated by saying it was “as” the voice of a great thunder. Reverberating through the heavens like the peals of loud thunder.
and the voice which I heard was as the voice of harpers harping with their harps:–The King James Version represents John as saying he heard the harpers harping, but the Revised says the voice he heard was “as” harpers harping. This must be correct, for all three clauses are in the same gram-matical construction, the word “as” being in all of them John then said nothing about hearing harps, but only that the voice he heard was like the harping–possibly meaning that it was both grand and melodious. This passage gives no support for the use of mechanical music in worship for the following rea-sons: (1) What John heard was in heaven, not on earth. There is no proof that we are privileged to have everything in the church that will be in heaven. (2) There is nothing said about the 144,000 redeemed harping on harps. The word “as” settles that. (3) The plural number of the word “harps” shows that many harps were .used, which would mean each had a harp, if it referred to the redeemed playing harps in heaven. In a con-gregation one instrument is used for all. There simply is not anything here to give the least support to mechanical music in church worship.
3 and they sing as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four living creatures and the elders:–For comments on the four living creatures and the elders see notes on Rev 4:4-7. “Before the throne” indicates that they were in the presence of God and the Lamb, which means that they were a part of the saved. This final glory of the redeemed is here pictured to encourage struggling saints; it is an assurance that their labors will not be in vain and that the righteous will ultimately win the victory. With the 1,260 years of terrible struggle between the church and her enemies, such encouragement was of the greatest importance. It is of great value to faithful Christians in all times; without such promises to strengthen us few would endure to the end.
and no man could learn the song save the hundred and forty and four thousand, even they that had been purchased out of the earth.–This means that none except the redeemed can fully appreciate the joys of salvation, and certainly we will not understand what heaven means until we reach it. We rejoice in pardon of sins and are made exceedingly happy in the anticipation of eternal life, but will have to wait for its realization till we meet our Redeemer over there. Only those who have passed through a great sorrow can fully know what relief means; so only those who have been saved from a terrible misfortune can appreciate the blessing. Of course, nothing can approximate the sublime and transporting joy to be experienced by those who will be permitted to stand on the eternal Zion and dwell in the celestial city. A song of praise for such a blessing can only be sung by those who have been purchased from sin by Christ’s blood. For this reason what John heard seemed to be a song, but a new one which even saints on earth could not understand.
4 These are they that were not defiled with women; for they are virgins.–That the saved in heaven will be those who have lived clean and chaste lives is certain from the general teaching of the Scriptures. But in view of the fact that the lessons in Revelation are mainly expressed in symbols, it is more reasonable to conclude that the impurity mentioned here is to be understood figuratively. In the Old Testament the abominable sin of literal adultery is made the figurative term by which idolatry is described. This use of the word is found in Jer 3:1-10. The Greek word for “virgins,” though feminine in form, evidently has a masculine sense in this text; hence, it should be taken spiritually to indicate moral and spiritual purity. As the word “man” is often used to mean mankind, so the word “purity” with a masculine sense includes both men and women. It is doubtless the purpose of this verse to contrast true saints with those who follow the “Mother of HarRev 17:5.” (17:5; compare 2Co 11:2.)
These are they that follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were purchased from among men, to be the firstfruits unto God and unto the Lamb.–Jesus is represented as a good shepherd, and his disciples as sheep to follow him. (Joh 10:11-15; compare Psalms 23.) Those finally saved will be the ones who have followed him, which can only mean those who have obeyed his commands. This truth is sustained by many texts of scripture. “Whithersoever he goeth” means doing any and all things he commands.
They were purchased or redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, as all the saved must be, but the 144,000 are represented as “firstfruits” unto God. They were not said to be redeemed because of their rank or station in life, but by the merits of Christ’s blood. The Jews offered the first fruits of the harvests to the Lord. As the first fruits were also a guarantee of the full harvest later, so the great number that John saw were those who, as martyrs and other faithful ones, had been true to the Lord during the period when the saints were struggling against the two beasts mentioned in chapter 13, and their condition was a guarantee that all faithful followers of Christ will be saved finally.
5 And in their mouth was found no lie: they are without blemish.–Liars in heaven, of course, would be an intolerable thought. In Rev 21:8 we are informed that “all liars,” along with other abominable characters, will have their part in the “lake that burneth with fire and brimstone.” The Jews were not allowed to offer blemished animals in sacrifice to the Lord neither can guilty sinners spend eternity in worshiping God in heaven. The redeemed in heaven will be without blemish. This, however, does not mean that they have never been wicked, for the very fact that they were redeemed implies that they had been sinners. In Rev 7:14 it is said, “They washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” Because of this and the fact that they came “out of the great tribulation” successfully, they are before the throne where they serve God day and night. (Rev 7:15.) This is a symbolic scene indicating the way the saved will pass the time in eternity. It does not mean that the eternal age is yet begun, though the righteous dead are now in a state of happiness. This is the clear teaching of Jesus. (Luk 16:19-31.)
Commentary on Rev 14:1-5 by Foy E. Wallace
(1) The hundred forty-four thousand-Rev 14:1-5.
1. And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him a hundred forty and four thousand, having his Fathers name written in their foreheads–Rev 14:1. The Lamb standing on mount Zion was Christ: and mount Zion was the symbol of the new Jerusalem, where the new covenant was inaugurated, and where the church was established; and which Paul declared, in Gal 4:26, to be the mother of us all. This heavenly Jerusalem was held in contrast with the old outward and earthly Jerusalem which here was representative of Judaism with all of its apostasies.
This new mount Zion was the seat of the new spiritual temple, as the dwelling of the New Testament church, described in Rev 11:19 as measured off for them that worship there–the firstfruits, further mentioned by Paul as the firstborn, in Heb 12:22-23 : But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect.
The hundred forty-four thousand was the numerical symbol for that great number of saints which were redeemed from the earth. These were the martyred number of the womans seed, designated in chapter twelve as the man child which was caught up unto God in contrast with the remnant or rest of the womans seed which remained on the earth to suffer tribulation, but not martyrdom. It is stated that this grand group of the hundred forty-four were redeemed from the earth–they represented the select company of martyrs, purchased by the blood of martyrdom, and having been redeemed from the earth they therefore belonged to heaven where they had been caught up unto God. These redeemed thousands with the Lamb had his Fathers name written in their foreheads in contrast with not having the mark of the beast in their hands and on their foreheads. It was their badge of identification and mark of distinction.
The number hundred forty-four thousand was based on the mathematical calculation of twelve times twelve, as a symbolic reference to the twelve patriarchs of the old dispensation and the twelve apostles of the new covenant, and the number signified the full number of martyred saints. Here again the proleptic character of this chapter was applied, in that the full number of martyrs were visualized in the midst of rather than at the end of the scenes of death by martyrdom, which followed in the succeeding chapters. This chapter therefore abandoned the orderly succession of the events for the between scenes view of the final victory of the saints and judgment of the beasts.
2. And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps-Rev 14:2-3. The voice from heaven was in unison, and symbolized the same triumphant chorus of victory over the forces of the dragon, as in chapters eleven and twelve. The voice which John heard was as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder, and as the voice of harpers with their harps.
It has been asserted that the reference to harps and harpers here justifies the employment ofmechanical musical instrumentation in the worship of the church. But a symbol never symbolizes itself, and a type cannot typify itself. Moreover, the scene is that of the spirits of the redeemed from the earth–and heaven is the home of the soul. What use could a redeemed spirit make of a material instrument? It is worse than folly–it is crass stupidity–to make a such literal application of figurative language.
The description is a comparison, indicated by the conjunctive adverb as. The voice of unison in the vision was heard singing this new song of triumph before the throne of the Lamb. In the perfection of rhythm it was us the flowing of many waters; in the mighty volume it was as the peal of great thunders; in the sweetness of melody, it was as if it were attuned to the strings of an hundred and forty-four thousand harps. The Greek text has the same adverb as with the harpers as with the waters and thunders –as harpers harping with their harps. It was the song of the myriad thousand, which no man could learn–which only the redeemed chorus could sing; it was not a song of worship on earth, but a refrain of triumph known only to the select company of martyrs and which belonged only to the throng before the throne. It was beyond all human imagination or contemplation.
3. These are they which were not defiled with women, for they are virgins .. . which follow the Lamb withersoever he goeth, these were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God . . . in their mouth no guile . . . without fault before the throne of God-Rev 14:4-5. These verses were a further description of this group of redeemed martyrs, of their spiritual purity while they dwelt among men, before they were caught up unto God. Their virtues were extolled for the impression on the members of the churches in midst of pagan influences and surroundings. Though these martyred saints were in the visional sphere of glory in the triumph of the persecuted cause– their character on the earth before they ascended unto God was an exemplification of the spiritual purity which should be maintained by all who remained under the evil influences of pagan surroundings in the world. There is no distinction in character between the saints in heaven and the saints on earth.
Commentary on Rev 14:1-5 by Walter Scott
I. – THE SPARED JEWISH REMNANT
(Rev 14:1-5).
MOUNT ZION, THE LAMB, AND THE JEWISH REMNANT.
Rev 14:1 – And I saw, and behold, the Lamb standing upon Mount Zion, and with Him a hundred (and)forty-four thousand, having His Name and the Name of His Father written upon their foreheads. The Revised Testament reads a Lamb, and omits having his Name. Both blunders are corrected in the Revised Version.
Zion is only named once in the Apocalypse. Out of about 110 times that Zion is mentioned, ninety are in terms of the Lords great love and affection for her, so that the place has great, very great significance, and Heaven knows it too. (Revelation of Jesus Christ, by W. R. Hartridge, page 54.) The first mention of Zion when capturedfrom the Jebusites by David (2Sa 5:7) is pregnant with interest, for, adds the sacred historian, the same is the city of David. Saul, the predecessor of David on the throne, was the man of the peoples choice, and typified the king who reigns in Jerusalem before the Lord comes. David, the true king of Israel, was Jehovahs chosen, and Zion the seat of his government. He is thus the prototype of our Lord, Who will reign in Zion, and before His ancients gloriously (Isa 24:23). Zion is rich in sacredmemories to the Jew. It is his goal of hope. It is, too, Gods chosen city. For the Lord hath chosen Zion: He hath desired it for His habitation. This is my rest for ever; here will I dwell; for I have desired it (Psa 132:13-14). Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King (Psa 48:2). It is the seat of universal government for earth, and the centre of interest to the millennial world (Isa 2:1-22). It is where Jehovah has in purpose set His King (Psa 2:6). There are three distinct thoughts connected with mount Zion: (1) It is the seat of royal power; (2) of Gods intervention in grace; (3) of Jehovahs sovereignty, but all in respect to Israel.
The vision is a bright and gladdening one, a calm after a storm. Christ does not yet reign on Zion, but the time is near, and in the meantime He stands as the Lamb with His chosen ones. The vision is an anticipative one. Both the crowd of saved Gentiles (Rev 7:9) and the millennial kingdom (Rev 11:15; Rev 12:10) are anticipative visions which have their actual fulfilment at the Advent in power.Here the Lamb stands on mount, Zion, but the Vials have yet to be poured out. The 144,000 here witnessed are of Judah; a similarly numbered company of all Israel (Rev 7:4) forms a separate vision. This company has theName of the Lamb and His (not their) Fathers Name written upon their foreheads. The mark of the Beast is on each one of his worshippers. The Name of the Lamb and His Fathers Name as well on the forehead of each confessor of Christ. These witnesses are viewed as having come out of the fiery trial under the Beast. They are Jews who steadfastly maintained the rights of God and of the Lamb; now they are publicly owned of Him. Many of their brethren suffered even unto death, sealing their testimony with their blood. Those here were spared through the horrors of the Tribulation. We gather that the innumerable company of Gentiles (Rev 7:9) are identical with the sheep who go into everlasting life (Mat 25:34; Mat 25:46); further, the third part, refined as silver andtried as gold (Zec 13:8-9), the same as are here spoken of as 144,000 Jewish saints who occupy the leading place inthe earthly millennial kingdom. They stand with the Lamb on the seat of royalty. What an exchange! From the tyranny of the Beast to fellowship with the Lamb! From the place of suffering to the seat of glorious power!
HARPERS AND SINGERS.
Rev 14:2-3. – And I heard a voice out of the Heaven, as a voice of many waters, and as a voice of great thunder.And the voice which I heard (was) as of harp-singers harping with their harps; and they sing a new song before the throne, and before the four living creatures and the elders. And no one could learn that song save the hundred (and) forty-four thousand who were bought from the earth. Heaven is stirred and breaks out into song. We have had the Babel sounds of earth, the mingled cry of the victor, and the wail of the vanquished. We have witnessed the Beast treading down the earth and breaking it in pieces (Dan 7:23) – an exhibition of insensate brute force – and his fellow in crime, the Antichrist, morally darkening and deceiving the world. But now other sights delight the eye, and other sounds and songs greet the ear. We meet with a new company in Heaven, distinct from either the living creatures or elders, for they harp and sing before the throne, and before the four living creatures and the elders. Harps are mentioned three times in the Apocalypse, in each instance associated with song (Rev 5:8; Rev 14:2; Rev 15:2).Thus is set forth the choral praise of the redeemed and heavenly host. The elders, representatives of the redeemed of past and present ages, each celebrates with song and harp Gods intervention in mighty saving grace (Rev 5:8-10).Then, again, the martyred company of Judah tell out their gladness and triumph similarly to those of the elders (Rev 14:2-3; Rev 15:2-3). We understand the harpists of our chapter and those on the sea of glass (Rev 15:2)as being one and the same class. The song and harp are so blended that they are spoken of as a voice majestic as many waters and powerful as great thunder. Then this company of harpists sing a new song in contrast with the old song. The former has as its theme redemption; the latter has as its subject creation (Job 38:7).The Lamb and the new song are conjoined (Rev 5:8;Rev 14:2). God and the old song are united. The song of Moses and the song of the Lamb (Rev 15:3) link upin one Gods past ways of power toward Israel with His present grace to them and to us. The crowd of saved Gentiles who form the nucleus of earths millennial inhabitants is said to stand before the throne (Rev 7:9). So here the company sing before the throne. But as the former are on earth, while the latter are in Heaven, the position differs accordingly. The saved Gentiles have a standing morally before the throne, whereas the martyred Jewish company have an actual place in relation to the throne.
Rev 14:3. – No one could learn that song save the hundred (and) forty-four thousand. The choristers in Heaven and those with the Lamb on Zion are evidently in closest sympathy. The two together formed one company on earth. Nationally they were Jews, spiritually fellow-saints. They had been companions in labor, in testimony, and in suffering under the oppression of the Beast and the Antichrist. Many sealed their testimony with their blood, others passed through the Tribulation, keeping themselves free from the corruptions of the wicked scene. The former class are the harp-singing company in Heaven; the latter are the preserved of Judah on mount Zion; thus the intimate connection between the two companies. How fitting, therefore, that the saved and delivered Jews on Zion should be those who alone on earth enter into and learn the song of their brethren before the throne in Heaven. On earth they learn; in Heaven they know (1Co 13:12).
As showing the ground of blessing even though victors over the Beast and occupying the place of royalty on Zion,the words are added, who were bought from the earth, not redeemed as in the Authorized Version, but bought, or purchased, as here and in verse four. All saints in Heaven and in earth are both purchased and redeemed. The former term applies to all men and all things on earth, the latter to believers only, and to thingson earth at the Coming. (For a fuller elucidation of the truths of purchase and redemption, see section on Rev 5:9.The reader is also referred to our Doctrinal Summaries; or, Expositions of Important Scriptural Truths. Fifth edition.)
THE HUNDRED AND FORTY-FOUR
THOUSAND ON MOUNT ZION.
Rev 14:4-5. – These are they who have not been defiled with women, for they are virgins: these are they who follow the Lamb wheresoever He goes. Thesehave been bought from men, firstfruits to God and to the Lamb: and in their mouths was no lie found; they are blameless. In this first vision we have three companies of redeemed people: (1) The elders, the saints of past and present ages; (2) the praising company of martyred Judah in Heaven; (3) the victorious part of Judah who had emerged out of the great Tribulation. This latter company are associated with the Lamb in His triumph, standing on mount Zion, the seat of royalty and of sovereign grace. Amidst the grossest corruptions, open idolatry, proud boasting, daring blasphemy, and open wickedness, these saints had not defiled themselves. They had walked through a scene abandoned to Satan without defilement. They lived and walked in virgin purity ( These are they who have not been defiled with women, for they are virgins. To refer this to literal impurity, as some do, manifests a lamentable want of spiritual discernment; moreover, the absurdity of such an interpretation would necessarily confine the company on mount Zion to men only.) (2Co 11:2). They had kept themselves unspotted from the world. But not only is there virgin purity of life, but there is also virgin love, undivided heart affection for the Lamb. We have had their purity attested, now we witness their obedience, which is full and unqualified; they follow the Lamb wheresoever He goes, their discipleship is unquestionable.
Rev 14:4 – Bought from men and bought from the earth (Rev 14:3) respectively signify the race and the place out of which God in His grace had taken them. Their purchase is regarded as a special act of sovereign grace.
Firstfruits to God and to the Lamb. These are an earnest of earths coming blessing. God and the Lamb are to reap a rich and bountiful harvest, and these are a sample. Priority in time and blessing of a like character are indicated in the term firstfruits (see Rom 8:23; 1Co 15:20-23; Jas 1:18, etc.).
Rev 14:5. – In their mouths was no lie found. Truthfulness in word characterised them. Their confession of Christ as the real Messiah was a true one (1Jn 2:21-27),in contrast to the mass given over to believe a lie in the reception and acknowledgment of the false Messiah, the Antichrist (2Th 2:11; 1Jn 2:22).
Rev 14:5 – They are blameless. Thus ends the beautifully descriptive character of the 144,000 on mount Zion. The Authorised Version substitutes guile for lie, and adds without fault before the throne of God. This is a serious interpolation. The meaning and force of the simple statement, they are blameless, is that they were so in practical ways and conduct generally. They refused to conform to the persecuting and blaspheming edicts of the Beast, they neither wondered after the Beast nor worshipped him. The seductions, too, of Antichrist, by which the mass were deceived, were avoided with holy loathing. In these respects they were blameless. Were the absolute holiness of God, the claims of His throne and nature in question, none on earth could stand and say, I am blameless in myself. This the passage does not assert, but is simply Gods estimate of their practical conduct when under the Beast.
REVIEW.
The opening vision is that of the Lamb standing on mount Zion immediately preparatory to His assumption of royal power as King of Israel. With Him is associated a defined number of Jews who have emerged out of the great Tribulation. They publicly bear the Name of the Lamb and His Fathers Name, and are thus, in light of the full blaze of millennial glory, openly owned of God. Then a voice is heard out of, or proceeding from, Heaven, grandly majestic and loud and powerful. It is one voice in which the harp and song of many are expressed. These singers and harpers are in Heaven. Who are they? They are as a company distinct from the elders, the raised dead and changed living of 1Th 4:15-17. The harpist choir are the brethren of those on mount Zion. They had laid down their lives rather than succumb to the Beast and his minister who dominated the conscience of the mass. They are here seen as raised in vision only; actually the whole scene is an anticipative millennial one. Their brethren on earth, once their companions in confession and sorrow, alone can learn the song of Heaven. How near is Heaven to earth in those days! How interested and how real the fellowship of saints in Heaven with those on earth! It is the day of Hos 2:21-22, and the day of Joh 1:51.
Then we get the ground (twice stated) on which these saved ones stood in holy and royal fellowship with the Lamb. They had been purchased at what a cost, even the blood of the Lamb. Then we have their practical conduct (not the inward state), which is equally true in principle of every child of God. (1) Separation, thorough and unqualified,from the wickedness and idolatry of their surroundings. They maintained virgin purity from evil and virgin affection for Christ. (2) Obedience and Discipleship are marked features. They followed the Lamb wheresoever He went at a time and in a crisis when all save the elect wandered after the Beast. Following the Lamb is a characteristic truth. They followed Him in His rejection; they equally follow Him in His glory. The word translated follow is in the present tense. (3) Truthfulness, in word and confession, is another feature of the practical character of these saints. When Christendom as a whole had been given over to believe the devils lie (2Th 2:11) these godly Jewish saints clung to the truth of Holy Scripture in its teachings as to the true Messiah and Prophet. (4) Blamelessness in outward conduct and ways before men, not before the throne of God (an interpolation), is a fitting and condensed epitome of their practical character and life. They were the first-fruits of the harvest gathered out of Israel, a joy to God and to the Lamb.
Commentary on Rev 14:1-5 by E.M. Zerr
Rev 14:1. The preceding chapter took us back to the first century of the Christian Era and dealt with the years of Pagan Rome, then came on to the time of Papal Rome and predicted the Dark Ages of 1260 years. The present chapter will continue down through that period and through the days of the Reformation, finally reaching the last great day of judgment and the separation of the saved from the unsaved. The Lamb is Christ and Zion is the true church which has been persecuted all through the Dark Ages. In the course of that period there were multitudes of faithful Christians who would not receive the mark of the beast, but instead they had the name of the Father written in their foreheads.
Rev 14:2. Voice of many waters symbolizes that great numbers had resisted the temptations of Rome, and thunder is a symbol denoting that the sound of triumph is strong and of great volume. Voice of harpers means the organs of song in the bodies of the redeemed, for the next verse says they were singing with the harps.
Rev 14:3. The saints of God always have the same story to tell and the same song to sing, and that is about redemption through the blood of the Lamb. But that story has a new significance whenever the faithful have another victory over the forces of evil through faith in Christ Jesus, and in that sense it becomes a new song. At the present time they had gained a victory over the apostate institution and hence they had great reason to rejoice and sing. The four beasts (living creatures) and the four and twenty elders are among the grateful listeners to the song. The hundred and forty and four thousand are the same ones we read about in chapter 7. No man could learn that song. Men of the world can sing any kind of song that is written as far as the literal execution of it is concerned, but they cannot realize what it means to express themselves in song as can those who have been redeemed from sin in the blood of the Lamb, and then again experienced the joy of winning out in a battle against the hosts of wickedness as these had. The corrupt institution of Rome had tried to overcome them by its abominable allurements but had failed.
Rev 14:4. In figurative language heathenism, paganism or idolatry, likewise any other form of unlawful worship is used to symbolize adultery and other forms of immorality. The persons of this verse were disciples who had remained true to the service of Christ though often tempted to commit spiritual adultery with paganism and other practices of Rome. Follow the Lamb whithersoever lie goeth covers much more than is often realized. It means to follow Him through sorrow as well as joy; through evil report as well as good, and through the valley of death if the enemy drives that affliction upon the servant of the Lord. Incidentally this verse gives us some information on the subject of virgins. The common idea is that only women can be virgins but these are called such because they had not been defiled with women, and men only could be defiled in that way. True the writer is considering spiritual adultery, but the language would not have been used were it not understood that either sex may be a virgin. First fruit s is figurative in the sense of quality, and the word is based on the requirements of the Mosiac law. The Jews were commanded to give the first of all their flocks and herds and the products of the field unto the Lord. The word finally came to mean the best service that one could render to Him. The disciples of this verse had performed such excellent devotions that the word first fruits is used denoting something especially dear to the Lord.
Rev 14:5. Guile means deceit and these faithful disciples had no desire nor occasion to try deceiving anyone. That evil trait was one of the prominent ones of the “man of sin.” Fault means blemish or spot in one’s conduct or manner of life. Hence this verse represents persons who are correct in both word and deed. That would indicate that their hearts were right also because “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh”(Mat 12:34), and from the heart come “murders, adulteries,” etc. (Mat 15:19). These saints were free from all these products of an evil heart so we may conclude they were pure in heart. That explains why they were allowed to be before the throne of God, for Mat 5:8 says the pure in heart shall see God. These brave soldiers of the cross had been strengthened in their fight of faith by the very trials that were intended to destroy them.
Commentary on Rev 14:1-5 by Burton Coffman
Rev 14:1
There is relatively very little difficulty in the interpretation of this chapter. First (Rev 14:1-5), there is a consolatory vision of the redeemed rejoicing in heaven (anticipatory, of course), followed by a solemn angelic announcement of the final judgment (Rev 14:6-7), “The hour of his judgment is come!” However, even preceding that announcement (Rev 14:7), there was foretold the fulfillment of that great event which must come before the final judgment; namely, the preaching of the truth to all nations, as Jesus prophesied, “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a testimony unto all nations; and then shall the end come” (Mat 24:14). The announcement of the angel in Rev 14:7 that the hour is come very logically follows the revelation of Rev 14:6 that preaching of the “eternal good tidings” had been effectively concluded. The rest of this chapter (Rev 14:8-20) contains a more detailed and graphic vision of the judgment. This follows a pattern John frequently used. “As often, with this author, we have first a general fact, or statement, then a detail or part.”[1]
By way of recalling what was revealed in the preceding chapter, two great enemies of God’s people were presented: (1) the sea-beast and (2) the land-beast. The first of these we identified as the satanically perverted state, Satan’s perennial device as seen in the great historical empires of Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome, the latter being the specific manifestation of it when John wrote. The second was understood as the false church which made an image of the beast (in the sense of becoming that image), the degenerate religion, being particularly manifested when John wrote as the pagan priesthood, but developing later into the full apostasy of the Middle Ages, and becoming an image of the first beast, itself the second, but particularly a religious beast originating in Christianity and developing out of it.
Such revelations must have been shocking indeed to the first readers of this prophecy; and their most natural reaction would have been the question, “Is evil then destined to triumph?” This great judgment scene in Revelation 14 is squarely addressed to that question. Wickedness shall not prevail; evil cannot win. The first beast shall fall (Babylon, Rev 14:8), her doom being pronounced in the prophetic past tense as something already accomplished, and as certain as if it had already occurred. The second beast, those worshipping the first beast and his image (Rev 14:9), shall be tormented with fire and brimstone (Rev 14:10), forever and ever (Rev 14:11). Thus, the great purpose of the final judgment, as stated in this chapter, is the overthrow and destruction of these two great enemies of God and his people.
In connection with that great final judgment, three angelic announcements signal the onset and execution of it (Rev 14:6-12). Rev 14:13, coming at the end of that triple preliminary, is, in a sense, the summary of all three, and one of the noblest passages in the whole Bible.
The actual execution of the final judgment is presented in Rev 14:14-20, which might be entitled “The Sickle of God,” for these are not two visions, but one. Some commentators get mixed up here by paying too much attention to the various angels, who with regard to the judgment (all of them) are but the instruments of Christ (Mat 13:41; Mat 13:49) and are merely part of the scenery of the vision. As Lenski noted, “Those who count the angels and think that each appears in a separate vision have seen visions![2] However many angels are seen in these verses, there is only one sickle, only one judgment. An outline of this chapter is:
I. A consolatory vision of the whole church in heaven (Rev 14:1-5).
II. The announcement of the final judgment and the Second Coming of Christ, “the day of the Lord” (Rev 14:6-7).
A. The gospel is preached to all nations, as Jesus said, that the end might come (Rev 14:6).
B. The judgment is announced (Rev 14:7).
C. The first beast is destroyed (Rev 14:8).
D. The second beast is destroyed (Rev 14:9-12).
E. Another word of great consolation is given (Rev 14:13).
III. The execution of the judgment itself (Rev 14:14-20).
A. The “wheat” is gathered into the garner (Rev 14:14-16).
B. The wicked earth (its inhabitants) perishes (Rev 14:17-20).
[1] Isbon T. Beckwith, The Apocalypse of John (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1919), p. 663.
[2] R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. John’s Revelation (Minneapolis, Minn.: Augsburg Publishing House, 1943), p. 418.
And I saw, and behold, the Lamb standing on the mount Zion, and with him a hundred and forty and four thousand, having his name, and the name of his Father, written on their foreheads. (Rev 14:1)
The 144,000 … These are without doubt the same as those of Rev 7:4; Rev 7:9; namely, the entire register of the redeemed of earth without the loss of one. See further comment on this interpretation under those verses, above. Some are able to find only “the martyrs” here, “but it is unlikely to stand for a spiritual elite of any sort, such as the martyrs.”[3] “The whole church is in view.”[4] They are not the martyrs, nor the celibates, nor any special kind of Christians whatever. “‘These words demand no such interpretation.”[5]
Standing on the mount of Zion … Of course, Zion is the poetic name for the old Jerusalem, but no literal city of any kind could be meant here.
This is that Zion which cannot be moved but abides for ever (Psa 125:1); it is heaven (Heb 12:22). Hence, we read, “And I heard a voice from heaven” (Rev 14:2; Rev 14:13).[6]
Having his name written on their foreheads … Since this is not literally true of Christians, it must be understood as a mark of their identification with Christ and with God. It is a spiritual likeness, which also corroborates the interpretation given above regarding the mark of the beast (Rev 13:16-18). Having the names of God and Christ written upon the forehead symbolizes thoughts and dispositions conformable to the will of God. Barclay believed that “‘it might indicate ownership, loyalty, security, dependence and safety of the Christian.”[7] Moffatt understood this whole vision as being “introduced as a foil of what preceded,”[8] and as anticipatory of heaven. Any notion that it is “a preview of the near future”[9] is erroneous. All such interpretations suppose that John (mistakenly, of course) believed that Christ would return very shortly to gather a literal army (the 144,000) on the hills of the literal Jerusalem.
[3] Leon Morris, Tyndale Commentaries, Vol. 20, The Revelation of St. John (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1969), p. 175.
[4] G. R. Beasley-Murray, The Book of Revelation (Greenwood, South Carolina: The Attic Press, 1974), p. 223.
[5] George Eldon Ladd, A Commentary on the Revelation of John (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1972), p. 190.
[6] William Hendriksen, More Than Conquerors (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1956), p. 183.
[7] William Barclay, The Revelation of John (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1976), p. 102.
[8] James Moffatt, The Expositor’s Greek New Testament, Vol. V (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1967), p. 435.
[9] Martin Rist, The Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. XII (New York-Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1957), p. 467.
Rev 14:2
And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and the voice which I heard was as the voice of harpers harping with their harps.
And I heard a voice from heaven … Although the person or persons speaking in this great voice is not indicated, the fact of its being “from heaven” proclaims the true power and authority of it. God either spoke the message or authorized it.
As the voice of many waters … It was not the noise of many waters which John heard, but something so powerful as to suggest that.
As the voice of harpers harping with their harps … Just as in the case of the waters, John did not hear “waters”; he did not hear, in this case, either the harps or the voice of the harpers, but something suggesting that. What John heard was not singers singing and playing harps, but a sound as precious and sweet as that, meaning that, “It was articulate and sweet.”[10] Morris described the voice as loud and melodious, supposing that, “It was the voice of the 144,000.”[11]
As might have been expected, not all scholars could resist the temptation to fabricate an argument from this to favor worshipping God with mechanical instruments of music. “We see that there are zithers of God … The zithers accompany the singing!”[12] But, of course, there are no literal harps in heaven; nor is it stated in the text that John heard any harps. As Hinds said, “The passage gives no support for the use of mechanical instruments in worship.[13] Furthermore, there is the valid principle that the appearance of anything whatever in these visions could not possibly provide any authority for the incorporation of such things into the worship of God through Christ on earth. This verse was falsely rendered by the New English Bible (1961) thus, “It was the sound of harpers playing on their harps.” As Plummer pointed out, “The ASV rendition as in this text is supported by all the leading uncials, the Sinaiticus, the Alexandrinus, the Vatican and the Codex Ephraemi.”[14] Therefore, the New English Bible (1961), like so many of the so-called “modern” translations, is, in certain texts, not a translation at all, but a perversion of the word of God.
[10] W. H. Simcox, The Revelation, Revised, Cambridge Greek New Testament (Cambridge: University Press, 1893), p. 139.
[11] Leon Morris, op. cit., p. 176.
[12] R. C. H. Lenski, op. cit., p. 421.
[13] John T. Hinds, A Commentary on the Book of Revelation (Nashville: Gospel Advocate Company, 1962), p. 208.
[14] A. Plummer, The Pulpit Commentary, Vol. 22, Revelation (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1950), p. 347.
Rev 14:3
and they sing as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four living creatures and the elders: and no man could learn the song save the hundred and forty and four thousand, even they that had been purchased out of the earth.
A new song … The universal rejoicing of the saints in heaven is meant by this, indicating their joy unspeakable and their bliss eternal.
No man could learn … save the 144,000 … Could this possibly mean that some special group in heaven alone could learn this song? No indeed. All the redeemed are meant. The meaning is simply that, “none except the redeemed could join in the singing.”[15]
Even they that had been purchased out of the earth … This explains exactly the identity of the 144,000; it is the whole church of Christ that has been purchased with his own precious blood (Act 20:38 ff).
ENDNOTE:
[15] G. R. Beasley-Murray, op. cit., p. 222.
Rev 14:4
These are they that were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they that follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were purchased from among men, to be the firstfruits unto God and unto the Lamb. And in their mouth there was found no lie: they are without blemish.
These are they that were not defiled with women … More nonsense has been written about this than about anything else in Revelation, with the possible exception of Rev 22:2! We shall start with Barclay: “If we are to treat it honestly, we cannot avoid the conclusion that it praises celibacy and virginity and belittles marriage.”[16] We should have expected this from a scholar who thought that when Jesus said, “The maiden is not dead, but sleepeth,” he thought they were about to bury the daughter of Jairus alive. For all his “honesty” in taking this place literally he spiritualized virgins to include celibacy! How so? If the passage is taken literally, it is impossible to explain it, for virgins is not literally those who “have not defiled themselves with women,” unless it is construed as meaning virgins who are not Lesbians! Are we then to conclude that no one will be in heaven except non-Lesbian females? Literalism here could hardly mean anything else: therefore, the true spiritual meaning of the passage must be sought. For a discussion of “Fundamentalism among Modernists,” see my Commentary on James , 1,2 Peter 1, 2, and 3John, and Jude, pp. 289,290.
Before observing what other learned men have written about this, let it be observed that John here categorically stated exactly who the “virgins” of this passage are:
They are they that follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were purchased from among men, to be the firstfruits unto God and unto the Lamb.
It would be impossible for the Scriptures to declare any more plainly than in these words that the “virgins” are the redeemed of earth, the true Christians who at last shall enter heaven. How strange it is that people should seek any other definition than that which is so clearly stated here by the inspired apostle himself.
The 144,000 virgins are undefiled in the sense that they have refused to defile themselves by participating in the fornication of worshipping the beast.[17]
That the word “virgins” is used in a spiritual sense in the New Testament is proved by the letter Ignatius wrote to the Smyrneans, “To the brethren, their wives and children, and the virgins that are called widows.”[18] In such usage, “virgins” has no reference whatever to sexual experience. “Being a chaste virgin” means being a faithful Christian; and all of the ancient Christians understood this perfectly. Scholars overwhelmingly accept this:
This means that the Christians have resisted the seductions of the great harlot Rome with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication (Rev 17:2)[19] These anticipatory passages al ways relate to the people of God as a whole.[20] The whole church is in view. Therefore the passage must be interpreted symbolically.[21] A literal interpretation would contradict the gospel.[22] These were virgin souls who had not bowed to the beast or his image. They were not guilty of spiritual fornication.”[23] Virgins was a natural symbol for moral purity from the seductions of the great whore of Babylon and from that fornication which is idolatry.[24] It is not possible that these words should be understood literally.[25]
Firstfruits unto God and unto the Lamb … This expression is made to mean that the salvation of the church is only “first” chronologically in God’s purpose of saving the entire human race, good and bad alike, as for example:
The church’s experience is also the sign of what the experience of mankind is to be. Put these words into the collection of John’s universalistic references.”[26]
Such views are due to a misunderstanding of the true meaning of “firstfruits” as used here.
“Firstfruits” can be used of a total group regarding their total consecration to God. All Christians are “firstfruits” (Jas 1:18). Jeremiah also referred to all of Israel as “the firstfruits of his harvest” (Jer 2:3).[27]
There is absolutely nothing here that indicates the salvation of any who are not “in Christ.” “The view that makes the 144,000 the firstfruits of all believers instead of all men is unacceptable.”[28] The contrast is not between the 144,000 and others yet to be saved, but between them and the rest who are lost. Chronology is not in this. “Firstfruits is a description of the perfect character of the 144,000.”[29]
And in their mouth there was found no lie … Beyond the truth and integrity of speech which are the dominant qualities of every Christian life, “the lie” probably in the back of John’s mind here is the lie that “Caesar is god,” that man is his own Saviour, that people may forgive each other’s sins, or that God’s religion may be tailored by people to suit their own purposes. “Not the least lie of this kind was found in the 144,000.”[30]
[16] William Barclay, op. cit., p. 107.
[17] George Eldon Ladd, op. cit., p. 191.
[18] Ignatius, Epistle to the Smyrnaeans, Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. I (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company), p. 92.
[19] Robert H. Mounce, Commentary on the New Testament, Revelation (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1977), p. 270.
[20] Isbon T. Beckwith, op. cit., p. 650.
[21] G. R. Beasley-Murray, op. cit., p. 203.
[22] Vernard Eller, The Most Revealing Book of the Bible (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1974), p. 136.
[23] Frank L. Cox, Revelation in 26 Lessons (Nashville: Gospel Advocate Company, 1956), p. 90.
[24] G. B. Caird, The Revelation of St. John the Divine (New York: Harper and Row, 1966), p. 179.
[25] Charles H. Roberson, Studies in Revelation (Tyler, Texas: P. D. Wilmeth, P.O. Box 3305,1957), p. 106.
[26] Vernard Eller, op. cit., p. 136.
[27] George Eldon Ladd, op. cit., p. 192.
[28] R. C. H. Lenski, op. cit., p. 425.
[29] Isbon T. Beckwith, op. cit., p. 653.
[30] Ibid.
Commentary on Rev 14:1-5 by Manly Luscombe
Introduction Chapter 14 is a continuation of the previous one. Here is a brief outline of this chapter:
I. Description of those who refuse to
worship the beast. (Rev 14:1-5)
II. Babylon is introduced. (Rev 14:6-11)
III. Another view of judgment. (Rev 14:14-20)
1 Then I looked, and behold, a Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His Fathers name written on their foreheads. The 144,000 were discussed in Rev 7:3-4. They are the servants of God who have the seal of God in them. They have the Fathers name on their foreheads. They are faithful, loyal, and obedient followers of Christ. The seal of God shows genuineness and authenticity. Each of us must decide whom we will serve – Christ or Satan – and wear the mark that identifies our loyalty.
2 And I heard a voice from heaven, like the voice of many waters, and like the voice of loud thunder. And I heard the sound of harpists playing their harps. There are several issues that are often discussed here. 1. Does this passage authorize instrumental music in worship? The argument is often made that there are harps in heaven. The claim is made, since it is acceptable in heaven, it must be acceptable in worship. This passage does not authorize the use of instrumental music in worship. First, the harps mentioned here are symbolic. John does not hear harps. He hears voices like harpers playing their harps. There are references in Revelation to horses, frogs, lions, beasts, dragons, thunder, death, suffering, persecution and many other things which John sees in heaven. They are symbolic, not literal. Second, what John heard were voices. Voices can offer praise to God. This is what God commanded the church to do. (Eph 5:19; Col 3:16) This is what the angels and 24 elders use to praise God in Rev 5. 2. What did John hear? Did John hear harps? Did he hear thunder? Did John hear a babbling brook? NO! John heard voices. In the next verse this voice sings a new Song of Solomon 3. What is the picture being painted in verse 2? John hears a voice. Now he begins to describe this voice. He uses three symbols to describe the voice he hears. Many waters – describes the flow and blending of this voice. It sounded like a babbling brook flowing over a rocky creek bed. Great thunder – As John seeks to describe the power of this voice; he says it sounded like a great boom of thunder. Harpers harping – When you think about the melody and beauty of the voice, John describes them as if many harpists were playing their instruments. It is clear that the acceptable worship and praise that God seeks is the voice that offers genuine praise from the heart. This voice sings in verse 3.
3 They sang as it were a new song before the throne, before the four living creatures, and the elders; and no one could learn that song except the hundred and forty-four thousand who were redeemed from the earth. The voices are here identified as coming from the 144,000. They sing a new song. It is a song that could not be sung before Christ came. Before the death of Christ, there was no redemption, no forgiveness, no salvation before the blood of Christ was shed on the cross. In the previous verse this voice is singular (denoting its unity and unison) and now it is in the plural as 144,000 sing together. Again, there is a parallel to the children of Israel. When they came out of great tribulation in Egypt, crossing the Red Sea, the first thing they did was sing a song of deliverance. So the church of the redeemed sings a new song of deliverance when they come out of the great tribulation of sin. For those who have not obeyed the gospel, the song is not familiar. If one has not committed their life to Christ, the words are just a strange sound.
4 These are the ones who were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These were redeemed from among men, being firstfruits to God and to the Lamb. Who are these 144,000? They have not engaged in immoral or adulterous behavior. They have remained pure to the will of God. I do not believe that the word virgin is to taken literally. They are spiritually pure. They have remained faithful to their Lord. In 1Co 7:25-27 refers to men as virgins. Here the term is used to simply mean unmarried and not a reference to their purity and fidelity. They follow the Lamb. Jesus said that the seep know the shepherd and follow him. (Joh 10:4) If we want to serve Christ, we must follow him. (Joh 12:26). They are the redeemed from the world. Under the Law of Moses, the Israelites were required to give the first fruits to God. (Pro 3:9) We are said to be the first fruits of God. (Jas 1:18) We have, in effect, given ourselves to the Lord.
5 And in their mouth was found no deceit, for they are without fault before the throne of God. The description continues – There was no deceit in them. They were blameless. The American Standard translates this without blemish. In the church at Sardis there were some who had not defiled their garments. (Rev 3:4). The 144,000 are Christians, faithful, and loyal. They have kept their garments pure.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
The attention of the seer was now turned again to the heavenly order. The redeemed are seen standing with the Lamb, a company of obedient souls who follow Him “whithersoever He goeth.”
In distinction from the seventh angel who had sounded the trumpet John now refers to “another angel.” At this point the unfallen angels are described as exercising a remarkable ministry on earth. The first of them proclaims eternal good tidings. Yet another proclaims the fall of Babylon. The Gospel calling men to submission having been sounded, and the defeat of Babylon announced “another angel, a third,” goes forth with a message of warning. In this proclamation the continuity of the divine recognition of human will is evident. All are called on to choose. The beast and the prophet insist that men receive their mark, and those refusing are slain. On the other hand, God’s angel messenger warns against receiving that mark.
It is in that connection that it was announced, “Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth.” To those who through terrible suffering are faithful unto death will be granted the way of entry on the higher service.
A double view of impending judgment is given in the figures of the harvest and the vineyard. As to the harvest, it is briefly stated, “He that sat on the cloud thrust in His sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped.” That sweep of the sickle in the right hand of the Son of man is a perfect symbol of the final and all-inclusive judgment. The figure of the vintage is an angel holding a sickle and gathering “the clusters of the vine of the earth.”
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
The Lambs Chosen Worshipers
Rev 14:1-8
The blessed ones with whom this chapter opens are only the first-fruit sheaf from the great harvest field. Think of it! If one sheaf consists of 144,000, what will be the entire number of the saved? The characteristics attributed to them may be realized by us all now and here. We must bear the name, that is, the nature and character of Jesus, in our faces; we must be pure in heart and life; and we must go wherever He goes. If to Gethsemane, we must follow Him; if to Calvary, we must take up our cross and go thither; if to Heaven, we shall be with Him there also. It is thought by some that this first-fruit sheaf represents the dear children who have died in early life and have become the Saviors body-guard and close associates. It may be so, but more likely it stands for the possessors of the child-heart.
In majestic procession, one after another, strong angels are seen issuing from the heavenly portals, with their sublime announcements. Notice the phrase, the everlasting gospel, Rev 14:6. In other words, the gospel of the grace of God is no expedient brought in to patch up a program which has been seriously spoiled; it is as old as eternity and brings to men eternal joy, and peace, and hope.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
Chapter Fourteen The Harvest And Vintage
Revelation 14 forms a distinct section of the book. It consists of one vision divided into six parts and evidently has to do with the closing up of the great tribulation and the introduction of the kingdom. It is as though God would give to John, and to us, a heartening view of the consummation, before describing in detail the closing trials that will occupy the last half of the tribulation period.
The Lamb on Mount Sion (Rev 14:1-5)
Verses 1-5 present a beautiful little prophetic picture, quite complete in itself. It sets forth that which is to take place after the desolations of Israel are ended. The glory will dawn in the land where Jesus lived and died and rose again, and to which He is coming back in person.
Observe, to begin with, that mount Sion is on the earth. The vision has to do with the return of the Lamb to the city that once rejected Him. It is common for Bible readers to spiritualize the various localities mentioned in the Bible. Thus Jerusalem, mount Sion, and Israel are all made to mean the church, or possibly even Heaven itself, whereas they have no such application. When God says Israel, He means Israel. When He speaks of Jerusalem He does not intend us to understand that either Heaven or the church is in view. Mount Sion is that mount Zion which David first set apart to God, and is a distinct locality to this day in the land of Palestine, within the limits of the city of Jerusalem. It is a place on earth, not in Heaven, and there the Lord Jesus Christ is going to gather the Israelite remnant to Himself when He comes to set up His kingdom. For, although many have taught the contrary, I believe that the 144,000 of this chapter are the very same as the sealed 144,000 of Revelation 7. In the earlier chapter John saw them sealed before the great tribulation began; God had pledged Himself to protect them. No matter how vindictively their enemies might assail them, He had set His own mark on them. He had promised to bring them safely through those tempestuous and difficult days. Now, in chapter 14, we see that same company gathered about the Lamb on mount Sion, the firstfruits of the kingdom age.
The Lord reveals His Fathers name to them. The seal of the living God on their foreheads is, in fact, this blessed revelation. They know God as Father and rejoice in His protecting care and tender love. In Heaven there are those who rejoice with them in a very special way. These are distinguished from the elders who represent, as we have already seen, the entire priestly company caught up at the rapture. But as the great tribulation goes on, Jewish believers, who will be martyred because of their faith, will also join that heavenly throng. So we are told that John heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps (2). These sing, as it were a new song before the throne, and before the [living ones] and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth (3). These in Heaven and those on earth will have passed through the same experiences in measure. There will be a sympathetic cord struck, to which both respond. The new song here, as elsewhere, is the song of redemption.
The company on mount Sion are next described as undefiled, a virgin band who have kept themselves from the prevalent unclean-ness in those fearful days. It is to be their hallowed privilege to follow the Lamb wherever He goes. They are described as being redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb (4). Thus we have a firstfruits of the kingdom age, even as our Lord Himself is described as the firstfruits of the present dispensation and His church, associated with Him, is a kind of firstfruits of his creatures (Jam 1:18).
The portion of this special company is the blessing of Psalm 32 pronounced upon the man in whom is no guile and the blessing that our Lord pronounced upon Nathanael (Joh 1:47). A guileless man is not a sinless man; he is one who has nothing to hide. When sin is all confessed and judged in the presence of God, guile is absent. And so this guileless company are described as without fault before the throne of God. They certainly do not appear there in any righteousness of their own, but saved by the same precious blood that today makes faultless every believer in our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Everlasting Gospel (Rev 14:6-7)
This everlasting gospel is not to be distinguished from the gospel that has been proclaimed throughout the centuries. In truth, the very fact that it is called everlasting shows that it is identical with the gospel as proclaimed from the beginning. It is the good news of all the ages that God is sovereign, and mans happiness consists in recognizing His authority. In the present dispensation, the full truth of the gospel of the grace of God is added to this blessed fact. The gospel of the kingdom is but another aspect of this same news from Heaven, emphasizing particularly the lordship of Christ. There can only be one gospel, for the apostle tells us, Though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed (Gal 1:8). But that one gospel has different phases. In the Epistle to the Galatians Paul speaks of the gospel of the circumcision and the gospel of the uncircumcision-the same gospel, but presented in one way to the Jews and another to the Gentiles. When the Lord was here on earth ministering, as also was John the Baptist, they preached the gospel of the kingdom. But men rejected the kingdom, and so, for the time being, the kingdom is in abeyance. This is the day of the church.
The Son of man is compared to a man who has gone into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return. When the word is given by the Father He will descend to take the kingdom, to be proclaimed as King of kings and Lord of lords. Throughout the present dispensation He is taking Jews and Gentiles who believe on His name and uniting them into the one body, the church. After the church has gone, there will not be a Christian left on earth. Then God is going to commence again to work among the Jews and He will send them out to preach the gospel of the kingdom unto the ends of the earth. Finally, we have the very last phase of that gospel immediately preceding His coming. It is the final call for the guilty nations to prostrate themselves in the dust and pay homage to their Creator. It is mercy indeed that in that hour of judgment, before the last blow falls, the call will still go forth to men everywhere to acknowledge the claims of the omnipotent One whose mercies have been rejected so long. In this chapter however we do not hear of any response. But Scripture elsewhere warrants the thought that many who had never previously heard and rejected the gospel will in that day open their hearts to the message and repent and thus be led to welcome the King.
Babylon (Rev 14:8)
Babylon is more fully described for us in chapters 17-18, but we have to defer any detailed exposition of this subject until a later chapter. I will say that just as Babylon of old was the fountainhead of idolatry, so is mystic Babylon today the mother of all false religious teaching in Christianity. In the time of the end it will be headed up in one great false church. That worldly church, which has proved so unworthy and false to her Lord, is to be utterly destroyed. I have no doubt that all over the world there will then be scenes with men crying, No God; no church.
I know that many religious leaders at the present time are very enthusiastic about what they call the reunion of Christendom but that reunion will simply be a great federation of Christless churches. They will form the most powerful religious association that has ever been known in this world-Catholic, Greek, Protestant, and all other systems united into one-after the true believers have gone. For a time, this great institution will dominate everything until men will say at last, What is the use of a church like this; why not destroy the whole thing and be done with it once and for all? So they will destroy it throughout the world, as they once destroyed it in France and in Russia.
Would that professed preachers of the gospel realized, before it is too late, that when men take up religion in which there is no real conversion and which has no place for the work of the Holy Spirit, the whole thing will soon go on the rocks. In spite of the latitudinarianism of the times in which we live, it is still blessedly true that when faithful men preach the genuine old-time gospel of the grace of God in power, people are willing to go and hear. Speaking generally, even unsaved men and women have more respect for the old, old story of redeeming love than they have for modern shams. When a man comes to the place where he no longer believes in the Bible, in the blood of Christ, in regeneration, he says to himself, Why am I paying money to keep up the church. I had better pay it to a lodge or a club. I can get more out of something like that than I can get out of the church. Have you ever noticed that Unitarianism has never been a financial success? Therefore when a preacher, in one of our orthodox churches no longer believes in orthodoxy, you will observe that generally he holds on to his position in the orthodox institution as long as he can. Loaves and fishes are more common there, after all, than in the heretical systems that are languishing all about us. And so we can understand how it will be in the great tribulation. Babylon, for a while, will dominate everything. The head of the nations will be the head of the church. The antichrist will be supreme in religious matters; but when Babylon falls, what a tremendous shake up there is going to be!
The Third Angels Message (Rev 14:9-12)
The angels solemn message declared that those who turn away from the true God, reject His Word, and instead worship the beast and his image will have to drink the very dregs of the cup of Gods wrath.
The Seventh-Day Adventists tell us that the third angels message is the sabbath message. They teach that worshiping the beast and receiving his mark consists in recognizing the holiness of the first day of the week. Who can conceive of a God of love and grace pouring out His wrath on men because, with earnest desire to glorify Him, they keep the resurrection day? All is perfectly clear when one realizes that the judgment pronounced in these verses is the doom of apostasy. In retributive judgment, God will press the cup of His wrath to the lips of those who have refused the cup of salvation. Nor is there any evidence that that judgment will come to an end, for verse 11 distinctly says, the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
It will indeed require courage of a very high order to stand up against that apostate condition and firmly hold to the truth of God as then revealed. And so we are told in verse 12, Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. This supports what we have been pointing out that these converts will be Jewish believers. They keep the Old Testament commandments of God and yet the faith of Jesus as declared in the New. Their part is not in the body of Christ. That glorious truth of the present dispensation is not for them. But they will have learned, at last, that Jesus is the promised Messiah. He was rejected by their nation when He came in grace, but He is coming again in mighty power. So they will bring forth fruits befitting repentance, demonstrated by their pious, godly lives and desire to glorify the One their nation rejected.
You have often heard verse 13 used in connection with funerals in the present dispensation. I do not question that it may be so used with blessing, but its full application refers to a coming day. Notice that little word henceforth. A voice from Heaven said, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; and their works do follow them. The point, I take it, is this: the darkest part of the great tribulation is still before them. The storm clouds, heavy with judgment, may break at any moment, but immediately following, the kingdom is to be set up. Those who pass through the tribulation will enter into the kingdom on earth. Those who die during its course will have their part in the heavenly kingdom, and so a special blessing will be theirs. In other words, from that point on it will really be better to die than to live. They will rest from their labors, be spared further tribulation on the earth, and will have their place with their Lord in Heaven. This place will be far better than the highest place in the kingdom here on earth, glorious as that will be.
And now let me press a question on my readers, whether saved or unsaved. You also must leave this world shortly. What kind of works are going to follow you? If saved, what have you been doing for the Lord? If unsaved, then I beg you remember that your sins will follow after you-those sins you have been trying to forget; those sins from which you have fled; those sins for which you foolishly thought you could atone by effort of your own. When you stand up, at last, poor, and naked, and miserable, before the great white throne, you will find all your sins there. They will grab onto you like the hell-hounds that they really are and drag you down to the lake of fire. Do not turn away from this solemn truth. The blood of Christ alone can wash you from all those sins. Then, as a believer in the Lord Jesus, you can live for Him in this world and your works will follow you to Heaven, for all that is done for Christ will abide for eternity.
The Solemn Harvest (Rev 14:14-16)
You will remember that our Lord Jesus spoke about the harvest. He declared that it is the end of the age, the time when the wicked are going to be separated from the just. He is going to gather the wheat into His garner, but burn up the tares with fire unquenchable (Mat 13:37-42). This is what you have here; it is discriminating judgment. The earth is reaped. The Son of man will claim for Himself everything that is of God. All that is contrary will be given up to judgment. Observe that it is the Son of man who sits on the cloud and directs the reapers. All judgment is committed to the Son. The One who once hung on Calvarys cross is the same blessed person who is coming to execute judgment. This is, I take it, the same in nature as the judgment in Matthew 25. It is premillennial and not postmillennial, like the judgment of the great white throne. Jesus is coming back to the world that crucified Him. He is going to gather for His kingdom, out of all nations, those who have heeded His message and cared for His messengers. But all who have heard His gospel and rejected it will be given up to judgment.
The Vintage (Rev 14:17-20)
The vintage is very different from the harvest. The harvest, as we have just seen, is discriminatory, while the vintage is unsparing judgment.
The vintage has to do with the vine-the vine of the earth-and this vine is apostate Israel. We are familiar with the figure as used in regard to Israel in the Old Testament. Isaiah used it, and in Hosea we hear the Lord saying, Israel is an empty vine, he bringeth forth fruit unto himself (10:1). The same figure is used in Psalm 80 and 81. When our Lord was here He could say, I am the true vine (Joh 15:1). He was the only one in Israel bearing good fruit. All who accept His message become branches in the living vine. By and by, the vine is going to be replanted in Palestine. In fact, we may go further and say, the vine is being replanted in Palestine. The Jews are going back to their own land; it stirs ones soul as Scripture is being fulfilled before our eyes. They are being replanted in their own vineyard, but replanted for what? For the vintage of the wrath of God. A remnant will be gathered out, separated to the Lord, but the rest will be given up to unsparing judgment in the time of Jacobs trouble. Fleshly Israel, the vine of the earth, can produce no fruit for God. But in that day of great distress, the clusters of the vine of the earth will be cast into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And we are told the winepress was trodden outside the city. Blood came out of the winepress, rising as high as the horse bridles for 1,600 furlongs. This is said to be the actual length of the land of Palestine. The picture is that of the entire land drenched in blood up to the horse bridles. What will the reality be? O Lord, how long?
Thank God, there are brighter things ahead. In fact, the best days for Israel and the whole earth lie beyond that awful scene of wrath and carnage. But we need to remember that the people of the Jews brought their judgment on their own heads by refusing the Prince of Peace when He came in grace to deliver them. In Pilates judgment hall they cried, His blood be on us, and on our children (Mat 27:25). The centuries bear witness how dreadfully this fearful imprecation has been answered by a just God. The scene depicted in these closing verses of Revelation 14 shows that a more dreadful fulfillment is yet in the future. Immanuels land, once stained with His own precious blood, will be red with the gore of those who reject Him. Even in that day when their own Scriptures will be so marvelously fulfilled before their very eyes, they will still refuse Him and instead assent to the unholy claims of the antichrist. Of old, they chose Barabbas in place of Jesus which is called Christ. Unchanged in spirit to the very end, they will prefer the son of perdition to the Son of God, and thus bring upon themselves swift destruction.
Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets
Rev 14:1
The Communion of Saints.
The communion of saints is (1) the restoration of fellowship between God and man; (2) the restoration of the fellowship of men with each other.
I. Let us learn from it that we can never be lonely or forsaken in this life. Our Lord has promised, “Lo, I am with you alway, even to the end of the world.” And in Him all His saints are with us too. No trial can isolate us; no sorrow can cut us off from the communion of saints. There is but one thing in which the sympathy of Christ has no share, and that is the guilt of wilful sin. The faith is the common consciousness and life of the elect, and they who stand for it, although they stand alone against all the world, are never alone, for all the companies of heaven and all the generations of the Church are at their side. Kneel down, and you are with them; lift your eyes, and the heavenly world, high above all perturbation, hangs serenely overhead. Only a thin veil, it may be, floats between.
II. Let us learn further, by the reality of this heavenly fellowship, to live less in this divided world. If we love the world, the love of the Father is not in us, and if no love of the Father, then no communion with His kingdom. Between these two we must make our choice. We are between two cities, the one visible, the other invisible; the one an object of sense, the other of faith; the one garish, splendid, and tumultuous, the other calm, glorious, and serene: on the one side, the world and this earthly life, with its fair show, luring gifts, bright promises, gilded ambition; on the other, the city of God, the fellowship of saints, the sympathy of Christ, the love of the Father, the beatific vision.
III. Let us learn from the communion of saints to live in hope. They who are now at rest were once like ourselves. Their life was once homely and commonplace. While on earth they were not arrayed in white raiment, but in apparel like that of other men, unmarked and plain, worn and stained by time and trial. Only one thing there is in which we are unlike them: they were common in all things except the uncommon measure of their inward sanctity. In all beside we are as they, only it is now our turn to strive for the crown of life.
H. E. Manning, Sermons, vol. iv., p. 303.
References: Rev 14:1-3.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. iii., No. 110; Ibid., Morning by Morning, p. 17. Rev 14:2, Rev 14:3.-T. Burton, Christian Life and Truth, p. 425. Rev 14:3.-G. Calthrop, Words Spoken to My Friends, p. 207; Talmage, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xii., p. 92. Rev 14:4.-R. D. B. Rawnsley, Village Sermons, 4th series, p. 89.
Rev 14:6
The Everlasting Gospel.
Some one not long ago published a book with the title “Gospels of Yesterday.” It discussed the writings of several authors who in our generation have caught the popular ear, and analysed their doctrines with keen incisiveness. Gospels of yesterday-how many there have been of them. They lasted as long as they could, but the world outgrew them. There is only one Gospel which is everlasting, which can pass from country to country, from continent to continent, and be everywhere at home; which time cannot wither nor custom stale; which has the safe and certain reversion of all the future. Now why is this? What makes the Gospel of Christ everlasting? To this question I give two answers. First, it is a message to what is universal in man; and secondly, it is a message to what is peculiar in every man.
I. Its universal message. The reason why so many gospels have been doomed to become gospels of yesterday has been because they have addressed themselves to what is transient or partial in human nature. Religions have been the religions of single tribes or single countries, and have not been adopted for other parts of the world; philosophies have addressed themselves to select sections of that community, like that one which inscribed over the entrance to its school in Athens the intimation, “Let no one ignorant of mathematics enter here.” Men have been hailed as saviours of society because they have been able to give relief from a need pressing at some particular time, or because their doctrines have fallen in with some passing phase of popular sentiment. But the glory of Christianity is that its teaching is addressed to what is most characteristic in human nature, and absolutely the same in all members of the human race, whether they be rich or poor, whether they inhabit the one hemisphere or the other, and whether they live in ancient or modern times. The three great watchwords of the Gospel-the soul, sin, and eternity-which it is uttering continually wherever its voice is heard at all, are enough to show why it is an everlasting Gospel. Nowhere in the wide world and at no period in the lapse of ages can human beings be found to whom these words will not have all the reality and all the interest of life and death, and if the Gospel can tell how the infinitely precious soul is to be saved, how sin is to be overcome and blotted out, and how eternity is to be transmuted from a dream of terror into a home and an inheritance, then it can never lack an audience.
II. Its particular message. The Gospel has a message for the difference in each specimen of human nature, and for each quarter of the globe and each age of the world, as well as for that which is common to all. God has a special message for every age. His Gospel has a word in season for every condition of life, for the child, and the young man in his prime, and for old age, a word for the multitude and a word for the few. The Chinese, when they accept the Gospel, will find secrets in it which the British have never discovered; the twentieth century will discover phases of the Christian life which are lacking to the nineteenth. We have not exhausted Christ, and we have not exhausted the Gospel of Christ.
J. Stalker, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xli., p. 397.
Reference: Rev 14:6.-Homiletic Quarterly, vol. i., p. 122.
Rev 14:12
There are mainly three conditions required in order to the attainment of the grace of patience.
I. Learn to look on all trying circumstances from the true point of view. The first and most natural view of them is that they destroy our ease. The sense of injury or annoyance, the soreness at the unkindness or disappointment-this occupies us, and the one longing is that the cause of pain may be removed, that at any cost we may be freed from the unwelcome pressure. Thence arises the restless impatience which is the source of some of our worst temptations. We need to rise above this estimate of trial, to look at it on a different side, to view it as God views it. As in mounting a hilly range, when looking down from a higher eminence on points which were above us as we commenced the ascent, their aspect is altogether changed from the mere effect of change in our point of view, so we need to rise above the first appearance of the trial, above the mere temporary effects, separating from it the selfish aspect, the idea of injury, or hardship, or personal annoyance, to rise high enough to apprehend the Divine will regulating it, the love restraining it, lest it become heavier than we are enabled to bear, the virtue which God intended to work in us by its means.
II. The second condition is the self-sacrifice which alone can surrender inward sensibilities to be chastened as God wills.
III. The third condition is the habitual study of the life of Jesus, which cherishes as a reality a spirit of patience. No impulse can rise in rebellion before the face of the Crucified.
T. T. Carter, Sermons, p. 292.
Rev 14:12-13
All Saints.
I. Our text shows us the chief graces which have made the saints what they are: “Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” So then the saint-like graces on which we are invited to gaze are faith and patience. Patience says, “Do not take for granted that you have failed because the result at present seems poor.” The end is not yet. Look with suspicion on rapidly won victories. Those master-builders who have been permitted to raise up the grandest edifices, either of personal piety or of extensive reforms, have generally been men who have passed through repeated disappointments, and by failing often have been taught to build circumspectly, to examine the soil, and to lay warily every stone. It is interesting often to see on its secular side the operation of a grand Christian grace. Some who would scorn patience at the hand of a saint may reverence her when she comes from the hand of a statesman. An instructive story has reached us of the most commanding of English Ministers. One day, we are told, the conversation turned on the quality most required in a Prime Minister. One said eloquence, another knowledge, another toil. “No,” said the man who bore the burden for seventeen years; “it is patience.”
II. Patience and faith are sister-graces. The saints clung to the powers of the world to come. They were not satisfied with what they saw. Faith is still, as it always has been, the salt of the earth, the one thing which prevents mankind from becoming utterly corrupt and keeps open the ladder of communication between God and man. Nor is it always acting on the defensive. The faith of the saints, the firm trust in God which fills the souls of all His true servants, has been the author of all the great achievements which redeem the history of the world from vulgarity and from selfishness. There is nothing impossible for those who believe in Christ, and are content to bide God’s time.
H. M. Butler, Harrow Sermons, 2nd series, p. 71.
Reference: Rev 14:12, Rev 14:13.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxi., No. 1219.
Rev 14:13
The Immortality of Good Work.
This is a benediction; it is a benediction, too, falling where we are accustomed to look for anything else but felicitation. “Waste,” “decay,” “death,” are words which usually bring only the most gloomy associations; but in the New Testament, more and more as it goes on toward its consummation, the brightest words, the strongest tokens of joy and of triumph, overhang these desolate places; and where men have been accustomed to set fear as a sentinel, to wet the place with tears, there in Christianity we see banners set up for victory, and we see all cheer and all comfort predicated of that which has been the world’s dread and the world’s curse.
I. We regard it as strange when energetic and useful men are cut off. Men cling to their work by that very force which enables them to be useful. We could not be what we are appointed to be in this life if we were so indifferent to our tasks and responsibilities that we could let them go easily; and this very tenacity, this very life adhesion, becomes at last a hindrance. So long as we are bound to this life, we are bound to be interested in the things of this life; and men cling to their work as if that were nature, when it is nature in transitu, or when it is nature partial or relative to one particular period of our age; and when persons are taken out of life in the midst of strength and function, men marvel. They cannot understand why those who are useful should be removed. But do you forget that dying makes but very little void in this world? Indeed, after Christ died He lived more efficaciously than when He was alive. The death of the Apostle stopped nothing, but sped much. No age was ever left without men. We are poor in our conception, but God is rich. He that could raise up seed to Abraham from the very stones need not look about much, nor mourn that men, one and another, drop out from the functions of life; yet it is natural that we should do so. They who have the responsibility, they who supervise the labour, they who must replace the men that are gone, think it strange that those who are well equipped and of the right spirit should be taken out of life.
II. But the consideration of triumph is that men do not cease their work. They never die. The irksome part of their labour they rest from; but their works go after, go on with, or have gone before them. A man’s life is not simply what you see. The effects of a man’s life are not simply those things which you can count, measure, or describe. He who lives in earnest, striving to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, or in the spirit of Christ, throws into life elements which never die out even here-elements that are not witnesses; that have no report; that come not with observation; that are immeasurable; but that are more real a thousand times than the things which are visible.
H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit, vol. vi., p. 60.
I. There seem to be two points to be discussed in the text. (1) What is meant by dying in the Lord, and (2) for what reason or reasons are those who die in the Lord to be pronounced blessed? As to the former of the two, it may be well for us to note that there is a peculiar significance about the expression “in the Lord.” The Scriptures of the Old Testament, and even the Scriptures of the New, make much of the lawgiver Moses, and Moses perhaps was the man who more than any other man who ever lived has influenced the fortunes of Israel, and through Israel the fortunes of the human race. But although men may follow Moses and obey the precepts which he gave, you never heard any of them spoken of as being “in Moses.” And, again, when we come to the New Testament, we find the Apostle Paul put prominently forward as one of the greatest of the inspired teachers whom God has sent for the instruction and guidance of mankind. Yet neither do you meet with the expression “in Paul” or any conceivable equivalent for it. It is obvious that the expression conveys more than the idea of respecting a teacher, or of imitating an example, or obeying the injunctions of one who has a right to command us. It implies a close and living personal union, which is real, though it may be mysterious, and which shows its existence in certain unmistakable results produced upon our heart and conduct. A Christian is a man who is in Christ, and who abides or remains in Him. The man must die in the Lord as well as live in the Lord, if we are to pronounce him blessed.
II. The reasons for the proclamation of blessedness. They are two in number: (1) they rest from their labours; (2) their works do follow them. The person of the man is accepted for Christ’s sake; his works come afterwards. A man cannot take with him his riches, his honours, his worldly position and successes; these things will drop off him as he enters the cold waters of death. All that will go with him is his character and the results of the influence which he has exerted upon the character of others; and in this respect eternity will be but a continuation and prolongation of the present life.
G. Calthrop, Penny Pulpit, New Series, No. 1163.
The Blessed Dead.
I. The dead that die in the Lord. The term hardly needed much nice definition when to live in the Lord meant almost certainly persecution, and possibly martyrdom. To die in the Lord was the end of those who had lived in the Lord, and few were likely to make that profession who had not taken up the cross and followed Christ in the way. To die in the Lord is to die in possession of all that the Lord, by His incarnation and passion, has won for man; to die in the Lord is to pass up to live with Him. What life do you take through death to that world? Is it a fool’s paradise which you are dreaming of there, or the Lord’s? It is simply a question of at-homeness. Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord, who have lived with Him here, talked with Him, wrought for Him, and have pined for more perfect possession of all that makes the holy beauty of His character and glory of His life.
II. Wherein are they blessed who die in the Lord? What is it which transmutes man’s great terror into an angel of benediction, and makes that which nature shudders at a birth into a world of bliss? Here we rise into another region: a region of intense, conscious, joyous vitality; a region of intelligent, responsible, glorious activity, in which nothing that makes the dignity, the grandeur, of the burden of life is laid down, but only the pain. (1) Because death is birth to the believer, and birth is ever blessed. This is not the noon of life, but its struggling dawn; not its summer, but its bleak and wintry spring. Our high life is the seed in the ground which is growing, struggling into form. Blessed are the dead, for they are born, exiled from the body, at home with the Lord. (2) Born out of a life which is a long pain to a life which is a long bliss. “We that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened.” (3) They pass out of relations and fellowships which are ever changing to those which abide and enlarge their ministries through eternity. (4) Blessed are they, for they are for ever beyond the reach of ail that may imperil the prize.
J. Baldwin Brown, The Sunday Afternoon, p. 320.
The Blessedness of the Dead in Christ.
Some years ago, when worshipping in one of the churches of the canton of Glarus, in Switzerland, I could not but be struck with the truth of the remark that there, as in some other parts of that wonderful country, the mountains look in at the windows. Wherever there was an opening, some part of a giant mountain could be seen looking in, as with a lofty and yet kindly eye; and the effect was all the more striking that in that grey and venerable town where I was more than three and a half centuries before the great Swiss reformer Zwingli had begun that work which was to have such consequences for his country and for the world. I have been impressed with the likeness of the relation of heaven to the Church below in the book of Revelation. Everywhere, so to speak, heaven looks in at the windows; and there are not only looks and sympathies, but voices, reminding those engaged in the earthly worship that a higher company is not far off from any one of them, and that where the shadow now falls the summit is also near. Considering the words of the text as in general descriptive of the heavenly blessedness, I shall endeavour to answer three questions regarding it which are here suggested:-
I. How is this heavenly blessedness attested? We all profess to believe in heaven. How do we know that there are such a place and such a state? If we cannot give a good answer, the Apostle John could. Could he have written all this, even had he wished it, without inspiration from God? If the Apostles had seen all that they testified, would they not have been less than men if they had doubted it? And shall we be wiser men than they if we disbelieve it? But their testimony, of an outward kind, has an inward voucher to its own authenticity. It bears the stamp of the heaven whence it professes to come. Here is a heaven of holiness and purity, of likeness to God, and fellowship to Christ, and eternal worship, contemplation, and praise. Did this dream come out of the human mind and heart? Then there is a testimony in living epistles, written, not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God. This is our third evidence of there being a heavenly world, what may be called the evidence from Christian character. Had you been in company with the Apostle John, you would have said, “Here is heaven begun.” The Christian Church in all its graces and in all its virtues, as it is a preparation for heaven, so is it a prophecy of heaven.
II. How is this heavenly blessedness gained? (1) Faith is needful to give a title to the heavenly blessedness; (2) holy obedience is necessary.
III. How is this heavenly blessedness to be enjoyed? (1) There is the rest of the worker; (2) there is the continued influence of the work.
J. Cairns, Christ the Morning Star, p. 160.
The Christian’s Death.
I. Death is a curse. My text says, “Blessed are the dead.” Still death is a curse. Separate and apart from the consolations of Christian faith, death is a tremendous evil. Nature shrinks from it shuddering. In most cases death presents the unmistakable features of a tremendous curse, being attended with sufferings which, however unpleasant to think of, it is well to anticipate, that we may be prepared for the worst, and, fortified by faith, may withstand the rude shocks of dissolution.
II. Death is a blessing. The union which is formed between Christ and His people being one of incorporation, and not merely one of co-operation, what the one is, the other is; and where the one is, the other is; and as the one feels, the other feels: and as our bodies and their limbs have all things in common, or the branches and trunk of a tree have sap in common, so Jesus and His people have all things in common. To be in Christ, then, to be in the Lord, implies that we shall infallibly enjoy all the blessings, temporal, spiritual, and eternal, which He shed His blood to purchase, these being secured to us by the great oath of God and the bonds of a covenant which is well ordered in all things and sure.
III. Death is a blessing as introducing us into a state of rest. (1) At death the believer rests from the toils of life. (2) At death the believer rests from the cares of life. Faith is often weak, and man is fearful; and so our life has many a troubled dream, that fills those with fears and terrors who are all the time safely folded in a Father’s arms. (3) At death the believer rests from the griefs of life. “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord will deliver him out of them,” if never before, at death. Death cures all griefs; and his own best physic and physician, he applies the most healing balm to the wounds his own hands have made. No more true or beautiful way of announcing a good man’s death than the old-fashioned phrase, “He is at rest”
T. Guthrie, The Way to Life, p. 372.
Rev 14:13
I. Observe that St. John introduces the subject with a singular solemnity; “Yea,” as though it was worthy of some special asseveration;-“Yea, the Spirit saith.” He said all that John had written; but He said this with a stronger emphasis: “Yea, the Spirit saith,”-for the exceeding comfort of all the weary ones, who are now fighting through the hard day,-“Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours.” From their “labours” they “rest,” not from their “works,” but from the pain of work, for “their works do follow them.” There are two senses in which we may take this last clause: the record of their works follows them to testify to the grace of God, to witness to them in the day of judgment, and to be the measure of their eternal reward; or, more literally, their works themselves do follow them, what they used to do and loved to do for God in this present world. It follows them, to be taken up again in some higher and holier manner there. The tastes they formed, the services in which they delighted, the ministrations which they occupied here-they have not ceased to be, but are sweetly renewed in that higher state. And is it not an animating thought to think that all we now try to do for God is the beginning of something which we are to continue for ever and for ever, and for ever and for ever to continue to improve to do? Is it not very pleasant to realise those we love there carrying on still their loving occupations, which we remembered in them so well when they were with us here? But the struggle, the toil, the distress of work, is past for ever. “They rest from their labours,” even though, ay, and because “their works do follow them.” Work is never a hurtful thing. Work, in its own essence, is all happiness; it is the worry of work, it is the anxiety of work, it is the disproportionateness of work, it is the unkindness of work, it is the clashing of work, it is the incompleteness of work, it is the disappointment of work, this is the trouble and the discipline. Take away these, and work is heaven. Therefore we have all the elements of perfect joy combined when we say, “They rest from their labours, and their works do follow them.”
II. To this last release, not from “work,” but from “labour,” we mount up by many steps. The fourth chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews gives the series of steps. There is a rest or release into which we all enter the moment we believe. “We which believe do enter into rest.” It is a rest or release from the feeling of condemnation, from that awfully oppressive feeling of unforgiven sin. From that time “labour” continues, perhaps increases. The sin is more violent; and therefore the labour is more severe. But then it is the labour of a lightened heart; it is the labour of love. After that, after forgiveness, gradually another release takes place. The Christian escapes from the dominion of sin. It becomes rather his servant, that sometimes rebels, than his master, that always rules; and that is the release from the thraldom of the tyranny of sin. Nevertheless, after that release, sin is there. It meets him everywhere; he is never safe from it. He is pained by its contact; he is humbled by its force; he is grieved by its outbreak. He sees it; he feels it; he breathes it; he lives in the atmosphere of it, till at last a moment comes that he is released even from the touch, from the sound, from the breath, from the possibility, of it. And so the believer travels up, in a series of releases, step by step, to that grand dismissal at last when he is set free from the whole warfare of the cross of Christ. But what will the release be? You will come down from your watch-tower. How you are obliged to be always going up to that watch-tower! And how your eye is strained to descry the approach of evil, of which you knew it was somewhere, but from what quarter you could never tell how it would come, often from the most unlikely! And so night and day you had to keep your weary guard there. You may sheathe that sword; you may lay down that shield. There is no adverse occurrent now. Every one that rose up against you is laid dead at your feet. It is peace, peace, inviolable peace, and peace that can never be broken. And painful exercises there are now no more, no rushing tides of contending influences, no antagonism of a double nature, no warring of the flesh against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, no wrestling with the evil one, no importunate prayer, no baffling mysteries to the tired intellect, no delicate balancing of truth and error, no efforts failing through their own violence, no sinking of the spirit, no eclipse of faith, no mountains of pride, no valleys of despair. The besetting sin rears its conquered head again and again no more. All those are labours past, and, like all labours past, bitter in the present, pleasant, very pleasant, very humbling, but very glorifying to God, to look back upon. And the very capability of sin is gone. It would be as impossible to have a wrong as it is now impossible to have a right thought. You cannot help but love God intently, and please Him absolutely, for nature and grace run in one channel, in one world; and the whole man is one perfect image of one infinite Creator. Then, as I believe, in token of it all, God will give to every discharged soldier “the white stone, with the new name written, which no man knoweth, saving he that receiveth it,” the sign of His approving favour, our dismission from sin, our admission into everlasting glory. So will the release come on; and that will be the Easter joy of our resurrection morn.
J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons, 6th series, p. 45.
Rev 14:13
Degrees of Glory.
We are justified casually by God’s eternal grace; we are justified effectively by the blood of Jesus Christ; we are justified instrumentally by faith; we are justified evidentially by good works. Or, to put this a little more plainly, we are justified before God-i.e., we are accounted righteous and acceptable-only by the faith in Christ which His Spirit creates and moves in our hearts. But how are we justified to ourselves in believing that we are justified before God? how are we justified to the world in saying that we are justified? By our good works. This harmonises the apparent discrepancy between St. Paul and St. James. We are “justified by our works,” as St. James says, in believing that we are “justified” before God, as St. Paul says, “by faith” only. “They rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.”
I. Observe that it does not say, “They rest from their works”-for that would imply that where they are gone they cease from work, which is entirely the contrary to the fact-but, “They rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.” Now labour is work’s distress. Work itself as such is joy. There is no happiness without work. Every man must work, some with their heads, some with their minds, some with their hands; but all must work. The secret of all the wretchedness that there is in the world is the absence of work. Whoever you are, you can never lead a happy life if you do not work, really work, work hard. If your circumstances do not define your work for you, you must define your work for yourself. You must work. It is God’s universal law in His government of this world, “If any man will not work, neither let him eat”-eat of any of the pleasant things which I spread for My children. But then, in this present state, the law of work has its dark shadows: fatigue, infirmity, too great tension, ill-health, disappointments, mistakes, waitings, suspensions, and sins. There is the miserable, depressing sense of inadequacy for the task; there is the perplexity of what is the line of duty and all the entanglements of self on every point; there is the feeling, “After all, all this is but a drop out of the ocean of misery!” I do not wonder that even in His work, Jesus “sighed.” Now, all this, and much more, makes the labour. The Greek word has for its root the verb “to cut”-it cuts to the heart. It is like that other word, “Take no thought for the morrow,” which is in the original, “Do not cut or split your heart about the morrow.” But yet all this that cuts to the quick is necessary now to make work what work was intended to be in this stage of existence. The labour of work is the discipline of work; it is the education, the discipline, the school. It was not the work which was the punishment of Adam and Eve-doubtless they would have worked in paradise-but it was the excess of the work above the power of the being of the worker, work’s pressure: “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread.” And therefore, because it is the needful discipline, the rule holds good, whether it be the bread for the body, or whether it be the bread for the mind, or whether it be the bread for the soul, you can never get what is really satisfying but by dint of real, hard fag, hard toil: “in the sweat of thy brow.” It is not work only, but it is labour, which is the condition of the peace of life. Therefore it was that Christ chose the word-for He knew how wide it was-“Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.”
II. If a man is in Christ, and that man works, and that man casts the labour of his work upon Christ, its vexings and its harassings, then that man has entered into rest so far, for he does the work, and he casts the labour. Absolutely, however, death is the point when the believer perfectly and for ever exchanges labour for work. Death might be defined as going from labour to work. For do not think that those busy minds which were so active and so earnest here when they were among us, who are gone to their prepared places, are leading there a life of mere receptive enjoyment or meditative peace. They have not so unlearned their natures. “His servants shall serve Him.” “They rest not day and night,” while they glorify God, in His boundless ministrations, still “each upon his wing,” while he soars away for activity in his vast circumference. It is tolerably clear, then, what it is the Spirit saith when He saith, “Yea, that they may rest from their labours.”
III. We have now to examine a little further how it is that “their works do follow them.” It certainly admits of the interpretation that those works in which Christians are engaged here continue to interest them in the next world. Why should it not be so? Do we not make too much of death if we look upon it as destroying any of the interests of life? For what is death but as if a person should go into some foreign land? He can see no longer what he used to love so well, and what he called home. But do those things which lie beyond the sea become indifferent to him? Are his affections closed to them? Nay, are not those things, in some sense, dearer to him than ever they were before? Surely we may believe that those high and busy enterprises, which had so large a place in the hearts of God’s children here, are not forgotten by them in their perfected happiness! The conversion of the Jews, the missions to the heathen, the flock, the schools, things once so near and bound up with their very life-blood-do you think they are passed away? And if not, if the interest lasts, and is imperishable, then may we not say that, in this way, “their works do follow them”? Nay, may we not go a step further, and hold it probable that there is a continuity between the special tastes, and occupations, and habits of thought, which characterised us here, and that which shall stamp our condition and our services in another state? Do not let us make the gulf between the two worlds greater than it is. There are two offices which the works we have done on earth are fulfilling in another world. (1) The one is to be our witnesses in the day of judgment. The matter which will be examined into at that tribunal will not be acts, but character. It will be, Did you love God? What was Christ to you? What were you to Christ? But, to determine the answer to that inquiry, acts will stand out in evidence; words will be an index. Therefore “by your words you shall be justified, and by your words you shall be condemned.” Deeds of charity will stand out in evidence: “Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these My brethren, ye did it not to Me”; “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me.” Thus, then, just as our justification was justified by our good works when we were here, so there God, though He needs it not, will be justified before the universe, in His final award to all men, by their works, which will be manifest then before men and angels. (2) The second purpose for which our “works will follow us” will be to determine, as I believe, the measure of our glory and our place in heaven, our place, not geographically, but morally, not so as to separate one saint from another-for the communion will be perfect in all saints-but just as Christians here meet in one, but yet are of various capacities and degrees, so there it will be in glory: they are all one, all filled, but the vessels are of different sizes.
J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons, 6th series, p. 90.
References: Rev 14:13.-S. King, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxxii., p. 51; R. Thomas, Ibid., vol. vii., p. 40; H. W. Beecher, Ibid., vol. xviii., p. 92; Bishop Barry, Sermons for Passiontide and Easter, p. 104; R. D. B. Rawnsley, Village Sermons, 1st series, p. 262; Homilist, 3rd series, vol. iv., p. 83: Preacher’s Monthly, vol. iii., p. 363. Rev 14:15.-H. Robjohns, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxi., p. 271; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. viii., p. 142.
Fuente: The Sermon Bible
CHAPTER 14
Grace ancient
1. The Lamb and the 144,000 (Rev 14:1-5)
2. The everlasting gospel (Rev 14:6-7)
3. Fall of Babylon anticipated (Rev 14:8)
4. Wrath for the worshippers of the beast (Rev 14:9-11)
5. The blessed dead (Rev 14:12-13)
6. The harvest and the vintage (Rev 14:14-20)
Rev 14:1-5.
A series of visions follow the dark scenes in chapter 13. The conditions under the domineering power of the two beasts are going to be changed. The Lord will answer the prayers of the persecuted Jewish people and deliver them by His personal coming out of the opened heaven. This glorious manifestation is fully revealed in the nineteenth chapter. Here it is anticipated. There is much said about this intervention in behalf of the suffering godly remnant in the Old Testament. As an illustration we call attention to Psa 44:1-26; Psa 45:1-17. In the Forty-fourth Psalm we find a description of their suffering and the cry to heaven: Arise for our help, and redeem us for Thy mercies sake. In the Forty-fifth Psalm the answer to this prayer is recorded. The King riding in majesty, dealing with His enemies, surrounded by redeemed companies, is beheld in that Psalm. The entire book of Psalms should be studied from the viewpoint of prophecy; it will shed much light upon these events of this portion of Revelation.
But who are the 144,000 standing with the Lamb upon Mount Zion, having His Name and His Fathers Name written on their foreheads? In the previous chapter we saw a company on earth who have the mark of the beast on their foreheads; but here is a company who have His Name and the Fathers Name on the forehead. A good many have made of this company a portion of the Church, as first-fruits, who, according to this theory, have lived separated lives and are caught up into heaven, while the other believers, who did not live as near to God as they did, will have to suffer in the great tribulation.
The reader who has followed the unfolding of this book will see at once that such an interpretation is impossible. These 144,000 have nothing to do whatever with the Church. And the 144,000 learn to sing this new song. Who then are the harpers? They are the martyred company seen in connection with the fifth seal and they also include now their brethren which were slain during the great tribulation. The characteristics of the 144,000 are next given. Rev 14:4 must not be interpreted in a literal sense. Those who apply it to a first-fruits of the Church have done so, and it has led to much confusion and even worse things. Literal impurity is not in view. If it had a literal meaning this company would consist of men only. The woman, the great harlot Babylon and her daughters, the godless and christless religious world-systems (chapter 17) are then on earth. They did not defile themselves with the corruptions and idolatries prevalent on the earth. They kept themselves from spiritual fornication. They are the first-fruits and the earnest of the blessings soon in store for the earth. They were devoted to the Lamb and no lie (not guile) was in their mouth. The lie and delusion of the end-time were utterly repudiated by them.
Rev 14:6-7.
This has nothing to do with the preaching of the gospel during this church-age. The angel must not be taken as a literal angel. The preaching of any gospel to those who dwell on earth is never committed to angels, but to men. This is true of the gospel of grace which redeemed sinners are privileged to proclaim during this age, and of the everlasting gospel during the end of the age. The gospel preached is the gospel of the kingdom and the preachers are this faithful remnant of Gods earthly people. Nothing of this preaching was said in chapter 7, though the result, the gathered multitude coming out of the great tribulation is seen there. But here, where the moral and spiritual characteristics of the remnant of Israel are seen, their testimony also comes into view. What this everlasting gospel is we need not explain, for Rev 14:7 gives us the information. It is everlasting because it concerns the Creator as the only object of worship. And it will sound the loudest and go forth in no uncertain sound at the time when pandemonium reigns on earth, and heaven is about to open to manifest the King of glory. How great is Gods mercy! And the nations who hear and turn to God will enter the coming kingdom. Read in connection with Rev 14:6-7 Psa 96:1-13. It will give you a great deal of light on this portion of Revelation.
Rev 14:8.
This is an anticipative announcement of what will also happen as the great tribulation nears its close. The particulars are not given here. These and what Babylon is and how Babylon the great (city must be omitted in this verse) falls, we shall find in chapters 17 and 18. Gods intervention in judgment upon the great whore is simply mentioned here.
Rev 14:9-11.
Here we have a third angelic announcement. It concerns the worshipers of the beast. They drink of the wrath of God. It is without mixture, that is, no mercy is found in the cup of His indignation. It serves as a solemn warning. Babylon falls prior to the glorious appearing of the King, and the beast will afterward manifest his power as never before. Therefore, the warning concerning the inevitable fate of those who worship the beast and take its mark.
Rev 14:12-13.
It is a voice which proclaims this. It refers especially to those who are martyrs at that time. Certainly all our loved ones who fall asleep in Jesus are blessed. They are absent from the body and consciously present with the Lord. But here is the comfort for those who faithfully resist the worship of the beast, who refuse to take the mark. They become martyrs. The book of Revelation will be read and studied during the great tribulation. Satan through the beasts, will try to annihilate it and the rest of the Bible. But it will be a failure as all former attempts to get the Bible out of the world have failed. Here then, is first the warning. If they worship the beast they will be lost forever. Then there is the alternative to resist the beast and be killed as to the body, but die in the Lord. From henceforth means during the tribulation when the great persecution goes on.
Rev 14:14-20.
This brings now the coming of the Son of Man with judgment power into view. The harvest and the vintage have come. The sickle is put in. The reapers used will be angels (Mat 13:41). The day of vengeance has come. Read Isa 63:1-6; Joe 3:1-21; Zec 12:1-14; Zec 13:1-9; Zec 14:1-21. This will greatly help to a better understanding of the harvest and the vintage. The nations and their armies will be in the land; the Assyrian from the north, foreshadowed by the wicked work of Antiochus Epiphanes (Dan 8:1-27) will do his awful work, the false prophet, the second beast is in Jerusalem. But then the judgment clouds break. The battle of Armageddon comes into view for the first time in Rev 14:20. How we ought to praise Him for His infinite grace which has separated us from these awful judgments of vengeance and wrath. His people will be at home when these things come to pass.
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
Chapter 29
Christ our satisfied savior
And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads
Rev 14:1-5
Isaiah declared that the Lord Jesus Christ ‘shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied’ (Isa 53:11). That simply means that in the end, the Son of God will have with him in glory all those who were given to him from eternity (Joh 17:24) and that they will be made perfect, holy, unblamable, and unreprovable, without fault before God himself (Joh 17:23). This is what it will take for Christ to be satisfied (Eph 5:25-27). Nothing short of the eternal blessedness of God’s elect will satisfy him who satisfied the wrath and justice of God for them upon the cursed tree. In Rev 14:1-5, the apostle John describes that eternal blessedness of God’s elect in their ultimate glorification, which is the satisfaction of Christ as the Lamb of God, their Redeemer.
Turning his eyes from the terrible scene of woe in chapter 13, John looked up to heaven, ‘And, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion.’ This is that ‘mount Zion which cannot be moved, but abideth forever’ (Psa 125:1). This mount Sion is heaven, the city of our God, the final abode of God’s saints (Heb 12:22-23). John is still talking about the same place when he says in Rev 14:2, ‘And I heard a voice from heaven.’ In Rev 14:6-20 he describes the events immediately preceding and leading up to the ultimate blessedness of God’s elect; but he appears to have been so overjoyed by what he saw in store for God’s saints that he had to describe their glorious end first.
Try to get the picture fixed in your mind’s eye as John saw it. There stands the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, preeminent in heaven. With him there are 144,000 who have ‘his Father’s name written in their foreheads.’ This is the same sealed multitude described in chapter Rev 7:3-4. There the saints were seen as still living upon the earth, surrounded by numerous enemies. Here they are seen standing in heaven with the Lamb, enjoying the bliss and glory of their predestined inheritance after the final judgment. ‘Although the dragon has done his utmost to make them unfaithful to their Lord, and although he has employed two beasts to assist him, not a single one of the hundred and forty-four thousand is missing’ (William Hendriksen). The scene before us is both magnificent and inspiring! Child of God, lift up your eyes to behold it. This shall be your final end! Let heart and soul rejoice! In the end, when all things are finished, you will stand without fault before the throne of God. In that glorious, perpetual day, you will worship and serve the Lord Jesus Christ, who loved you and gave himself for you, perfectly!
The singular object of adoration and worship in heaven is the Lamb of God
Though john saw and described many things, nothing so arrested his heart and mind as the person of that all-glorious lamb, who is the lord jesus christ, our god and savior. That lamb is the reward, glory, and delight of heaven. Indeed, christ the lamb is heaven! ‘heaven and christ are the same things; to be with christ is to be in heaven, and to be in heaven is to be with christ’ (samuel rutherford).
Notice the figure under which Christ is represented in heaven – ‘I looked, and lo, a Lamb!’ Twenty-six times in the Book of Revelation, Christ is referred to as a Lamb. Why is the Lamb always in the forefront?
1. No one can approach God, but by the Lamb (Heb 9:7).
2. We cannot know, serve, praise, and honor God in true worship, but by the Lamb (Joh 1:18; 1Pe 2:5).
3. Christ is worshipped as the Lamb in heaven, because it was as a Lamb that he died and accomplished the redemption of his people (Joh 1:29; 1Pe 1:18-20).
4. He who sets upon the throne of God in our nature is seen as a Lamb to encourage us to come to him. Christ is a Lion to his enemies, but a Lamb for his people. What child fears a lamb? We need never fear coming to the Lamb of God upon the throne of grace (Heb 4:16).
Notice also the posture of the Lamb in heaven – ‘A Lamb stood in heaven.’ Standing is the posture of triumph. The Father said to the Son, ‘Sit thou on my right hand until I make thy foes thy footstool’ (Act 2:34-35). Now it is done! All his enemies have been made to bow before his throne. Like a mighty Victor, he stands erect in the last day, gloriously triumphant. He stooped to be merciful to a sinner (Joh 8:6; Joh 8:8). He knelt to pray (Luk 22:41-42). Once he hung upon the cursed tree to put away the sins of his people (1Pe 2:24). Today, he sits in sovereign dominion upon the throne of God (Heb 10:12-13). But in the end we see him standing to receive eternal praise for all his accomplishments (Isa 45:20-25; Php 2:9-11).
Those who shall be found in heaven worshipping the Lamb are God’s elect multitude (Rev 14:1)
Remember the 144,00 are the same ones who were sealed in chapter 7. They are an elect multitude, marked out from eternity with the Father’s name written upon their foreheads. The number 144,00 indicates two things:
1. God’s elect are a very great multitude. At any given time and in any given place in history, they appear to be few. But when all the elect are gathered in heaven, they shall be ‘many brethren’ (Rom 8:29), a multitude which no man can number (Rev 7:9).
2. The number of the elect is a certain number. We do not know who they are, but God does. We do not know how many there are, but God does. The elect are a multitude known by God from eternity whom he will gather from the four corners. Thank God for his electing love! Were it not for God’s election, no one would ever have been saved (Joh 15:16; Psa 65:4). Election guaranteed that a great multitude, ‘ten thousand times ten thousand,’ would be saved (Rom 8:29-30).
The saints of God in heaven sing a new song, but it is a song learned upon the earth (Rev 14:2-3)
It is a song born of experience, inspired by gratitude, and intended solely for the praise of the Lamb. It is a song sung by many, from many places – ‘many waters.’ It is a song of majestic wonder, indicated by ‘great thunders.’ It is a song of great joy, inspired by electing grace, indicated by the ‘harpers harping.’ it is a song of particular, special, accomplished redemption. The ones singing are all those who ‘were redeemed from the earth,’ not redeemed with, but from the rest of the people of the earth. It is called a ‘new song,’ because it is about the blessings and privileges of the new covenant (Heb 8:8-12) and a new experience of grace – The Resurrection of the Body!
Those who shall be found in heaven worshipping the Lamb in eternity are those who experienced his saving grace upon the earth (Rev 14:4-5)
None shall enter heaven but those who have been chosen by God the Father (2Th 2:13), redeemed by God the Son (Gal 3:13), and made to experience grace by the call of God the Holy Spirit (Psa 65:4). And not one of the chosen, redeemed, and called ones shall fail to reach this blessed estate (Rom 8:29-30). Grace is glory begun; and glory is grace completed. Grace does not merely offer glory. Grace makes sinners worthy of glory and brings them into glory (Col 1:12; Php 1:6). Though we are by nature corrupt and defiled, in Christ we are virgins (1Co 6:9-11). Though we have all gone astray from God (Isa 53:6), grace has made us followers of the Lamb (Joh 10:3-5). Though we were lost and ruined with Adam’s fallen race, God’s elect have been effectually ‘redeemed from among men’ (Gal 3:13). Do not fail to observe the fact that redemption is spoken of throughout the book of Revelation as an effectually accomplished, particular work of grace specifically for those who are God’s elect. It is never spoken of as a vague, general atonement for all people. Though we are by nature full of deceit (Mar 7:21-23), grace has made the believer guiltless, without hypocrisy, and sincere (Php 3:3). And every child of God stands without fault before the throne of God! We are so now, judicially, through the blood of Christ and the imputation of his righteousness to us. And we shall be, in eternity, without fault personally as we stand before our God (Eph 1:4; Eph 5:25-27; Heb 12:14). Will you be in that number?
Fuente: Discovering Christ In Selected Books of the Bible
written in
See, Rev 7:3; Rev 22:4 contra: Rev 13:16.
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
I looked: Rev 14:14, Rev 4:1, Rev 6:8, Rev 15:5, Jer 1:11, Eze 1:4, Eze 2:9, Eze 8:7, Eze 10:1, Eze 10:9, Eze 44:4, Dan 12:5, Amo 8:2, Zec 4:2
a Lamb: Rev 5:5-9, Rev 5:12, Rev 5:13, Rev 7:9-17
mount: Psa 2:6, Psa 132:13, Psa 132:14, Isa 49:14, Joe 2:32, Mic 4:7, Rom 9:33, Heb 12:22-24
an: Rev 7:4-8
having: Rev 3:12, Rev 7:3, Rev 13:16, Rev 13:17, Luk 12:8
Reciprocal: Deu 12:5 – But unto 2Sa 5:7 – Zion 1Ch 11:5 – the castle Psa 9:11 – which Psa 15:1 – holy Psa 45:14 – virgins Psa 65:1 – in Sion Psa 69:35 – God Psa 87:3 – Glorious Psa 87:7 – As well Psa 99:2 – great Psa 125:1 – be as mount Psa 137:3 – the songs of Zion Isa 24:23 – mount Isa 35:10 – and come Isa 51:11 – the redeemed Isa 60:14 – The city Isa 65:25 – my Jer 51:10 – let us Eze 9:4 – set a mark Joh 1:29 – Behold 1Pe 1:19 – as Rev 9:4 – which Rev 12:11 – the blood Rev 14:3 – no Rev 15:2 – that had Rev 17:14 – and they Rev 19:14 – the armies Rev 22:4 – and his
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
CHAPTER 14 GIVES US a series of visions, all of which set before us in various ways Gods thoughts and actions from heaven during the period when the two beasts are dominating the earth, persecuting and even slaying the saints. In the first of these visions we see how God will preserve for Himself faithful souls who will be true to the Lamb and free from the corruptions that the beast is enforcing on all under his power. The number given is symbolic. Twelve is the number of complete administration, and here we have the square of it multiplied by a thousand. We have had it before in the number sealed of the tribes of Israel in Rev 7:1-17, but we must not infer from this that the two companies are identical. There it was a question of securing the elect of Israel before the judgments were permitted to burst forth. Here we have a company redeemed from among men as firstfruits for the millennial earth, who have been preserved in virginal purity, and who have His name and the name of His Father-as it should read-written on their foreheads, instead of the name or mark of the beast. As a result of their unique experiences they sing a new song which is peculiarly their own. The tried saint of today may well take courage from the fact that, if special trials are endured with God, we are thereby qualified to sound His praise in a special song. When the heavens and the earth join in the great orchestra of praise in the millennial age, what a variety of tone and utterance there will be! Yet all will be in harmony.
The better attested reading in verse Rev 14:5 is, and in their mouths was no lie found; for they are blameless. The propaganda of the two beasts of Rev 13:1-18 was one huge lie, just as Paul indicated in 2Th 2:1-17. The miracles wrought by the beast he characterizes as lying wonders, and he tells us that God will send men a strong delusion that they should believe a lie. These saints were wholly separate from all this. They were true followers of their Master, who would not take up the names of evil into His lips, as Psa 16:1-11 prophetically puts it. Hence they were without blame in a course of practical righteousness. The words, before the throne of God, lack authority; so it is evidently not the point that they were judicially righteous by the blood of the Lamb, but practically right in their course below.
The second vision of the chapter is in verses Rev 14:6-7. In that very dark hour in earths story there will be rendered to all men everywhere a clear testimony to God in His creatorial greatness, which demands that He be feared and glorified, especially in view of the fact that the hour of His judgment is come. Two things may be noticed. First, it is called the everlasting gospel… unto them that dwell on the earth. The presentation of God in the glory of creation is always glad tidings, no matter what the age or dispensation. We have lived to a day when the earth-dwellers have been grievously deceived by the devils lie of evolution, so we can appreciate how glad is the tidings of a Creator-God. The word everlasting may also carry back our thoughts to the everlasting covenant of Gen 9:16.
Second, this gospel is committed to an angel, flying in the midst of heaven. We often say, rightly enough, that no angel can preach the gospel which speaks of the redeeming blood of Christ, inasmuch as no angel has any experimental knowledge of redemption. But when creation is in question angels can speak in a way that men cannot. Angels saw its wonders and shouted for joy. Men only know of it by revelation. By angelic ministration this testimony will be diffused through the earth in that solemn hour.
Verse Rev 14:8 gives us a third vision of a second angel. The fall of Babylon is briefly announced; full details of which are given to us in Rev 17:1-18 and Rev 18:1-24. The wording of our verse suggests first a city and then a corrupt woman, just as we find Babylon portrayed in those chapters. It clearly symbolizes the corrupt ecclesiastical system, headed up in the papacy, which will rise to great heights of splendour and influence after the true church is gone, and which will for a brief moment dominate and seduce all the nations. So in the second vision we have the proclamation of the true Creator-God, just when men are deifying a man in the person of the beast; in the third vision the judgment of the false religious system, which was aiding and abetting this evil.
In the fourth vision a third angel appears-verses Rev 14:9-13. On Gods behalf he utters the sternest possible warning of the judgment that will fall on all who accept the mark of the beast and worship him. It will indeed be a solemn hour when men have to face such alternatives. If they do not worship the beast death is the penalty before them, as we saw in Rev 13:15. If they do, the far more awful penalty will certainly come upon them, as verses Rev 14:10-11 of our chapter state. If we were asked what two verses in the whole Bible present us with the darkest and most terrible picture, we should select these. We may well ask. Why language of such tremendous intensity here?
The answer we believe to be, that here we have the climax of all the preceding ages. Mankind started on its fallen and lawless career fascinated by the lie of the devil, Ye shall be as gods (Gen 3:5). Under the same evil leadership and through the two beasts, mankind will make its supreme and last bid to reach the goal of its desire. At this point then human sin reaches its climax and rises to its highest expression. Is it not fitting that the most bitter judgment is to fall on the highest sin? Testimony to the eternity of punishment is quite uniform throughout the New Testament, but at the same time the Lords own words-Luk 12:47, Luk 12:48, for instance-have indicated that with God, as with men, there are degrees in the severity of judgment. Here, then, we have eternal judgment of the utmost severity which will lie on those who will have carried sin to its most outrageous lengths; the very reading of which fills the soul with horror. Those who fall under it will have no rest, and they will stand as an eternal witness to the severity of Gods judgment against sin. The smoke of their torment will be something for every eye to see.
Verses Rev 14:12-13 speak of the saints who will not bow to the beast. It will be a supreme test of patience and endurance. When men generally are being forced to comply with the demands and commandments of the beasts, these will keep the commandments of God; and this they will do because they cling to the faith of Jesus. They may not know Him in that full way, which is the portion of the Christian today, but they will know that Jesus, who once came and was despised and rejected, is the true Christ of God, and the faith of this will possess them in spite of everything, and they will brave the wrath of the devil.
Some of them will escape his power, but many of them will fall as victims before the beasts, and a peculiar blessedness is the portion of such. The beast-worshippers will pass out of this life into eternal damnation of special intensity-out of apparent glory into the torment. Saints with the faith of Jesus may be martyred in circumstances of utmost distress and apparent defeat, but henceforth, from that very moment, their blessedness begins. Great emphasis is added to this by the way the whole Godhead is introduced here. These saints keep the commandments of God; also the faith of Jesus; they die in the Lord; that is, because owning His authority; the Spirit endorses their blessedness. We have just seen that the damned have no rest, but these rest from their labours; and their works do follow them into the eternal world, that they may receive their due reward.
The chapter closes with a vision which comprises two sections-the reaping of the harvest, and the gathering in of the vine of the earth. John beheld a white cloud. The cloud indicated the presence of God: its whiteness, the pure and spotless character of the judgment which the presence of God must now involve. One like the Son of Man sat on that cloud-not in it, as though concealed by it, but fully manifested-crowned and with the sickle of judgment in His hand. All judgment is committed to the Son of Man, as we know. He acts mediatorially, and therefore thrusts in His sickle when the word of direction reaches Him from the inner shrine through an angel, and the earth is reaped.
The figure of a harvest is used in connection with judgment in both Old and New Testaments-Joe 3:13; Mat 13:38-43. It is more particularly a figure of discriminatory judgment, as Matthew shows. The wheat will be reaped as well as the tares. In the final result there is the shining forth as the sun for these, and the furnace of fire for those.
But another angel comes forth; this time not from the sanctuary but from the altar where the fire of judgment burned, and over that fire he had power. The instruction now is to cut down the clusters of the vine of the earth, which were fully ripe. The grapes were gathered and cast into the great winepress of the wrath of God. This indicates overwhelming judgment falling upon that which is so wholly evil that no discrimination is necessary. It is remarkable that Joe 3:13, which predicts the harvest, also predicts the winepress judgment. It is of this terrible moment that Isa 63:1-6 speaks also. It is, the day of vengeance, according to verse Rev 14:4 of that passage, but also, the year of My redeemed, inasmuch as the total crushing of the adversaries will mean a final redemption of the godly, just as it happened when Israel was redeemed at the Red Sea and the Egyptians crushed. It is the day of vengeance of our God, the words which the Lord did NOT read in the synagogue at Nazareth.
The last verse of our chapter gives us in symbolic language an idea of the devastating and widespread effect of this judgment. Jerusalem is, of course, indicated by the city, and 1,600 furlongs is about the whole length of Palestine. There will be a complete and crushing sweeping away of all the adversaries who will at that time gather themselves together against God-see again Joe 3:9-16.
The Lord Jesus is not treading the winepress today, nor is He reaping the harvest of the earth. He is sowing the seed through His servants, and fruit therefrom is being reaped. But it is for heaven, and not earth.
Fuente: F. B. Hole’s Old and New Testaments Commentary
Jewish Outcomers from the Great Tribulation
Rev 7:1-8; Rev 14:1-5
INTRODUCTORY WORDS
There are some people who see but one Rapture. For our part we see several.
1. There is the Rapture of the Body of Christ. This may take place at any time, but of course that time must be God’s time. To us it is any time, to God it is at a definite moment, which He, in His omniscience, has already set.
2. There is a Rapture of the outcomers of the Great Tribulation. This will be discussed as we proceed with the sermon.
3. We believe that there will be a Rapture of the one hundred and forty-four thousand.
The Bible speaks of two general statements. Enoch, Elijah, Christ, and the Church, were all taken out, and up. On the other hand Noah was carried through the flood.
We cannot but believe that the rapture of Enoch and of Elijah, typically, set forth the Rapture of the Church, and likewise, the Rapture of other groups, which may go up during the Tribulation period to meet the Lord. The Rapture of Christ, likewise, anticipates the Rapture of the Church.
When we say that there will doubtless be more than one Rapture, we do not mean that in the Rapture of the Church, which is His Body, all of the truly regenerate will not be taken up. We do, however, mean that after the Rapture of the Church, and under the ministry of the two witnesses and of many others, there will be other groups saved.
Neither are we dogmatic that the great multitude who are the outcomers from the Great Tribulation are raptured. We believe they are. Of this we are certain, God will take care of His own.
The Rapture of saints need not stagger our confidence in God. He is able to work all things after the counsel of His will. He who caught Enoch and Elijah up, is able to catch us up. He who went up from the mount of Olives, is able to receive us unto Himself.
I. THE OMNIPOTENT GOD CHECKING THE ELEMENTS (Rev 7:1-3)
There was a terrific judgment that befell the earth as the seals of the “book” were broken. We now are carried back by the Spirit to what we may call a parenthesis, which may be placed somewhere in the midst of the opening of the seals. It may come, and we rather think it does come between the opening of the fourth seal, and the fifth seal.
One thing is plain, the judgments of God are then upon the earth. In those judgments the winds of the earth, as well as the earthquakes and other natural forces have their part.
As the winds are about to work their havoc and fulfil their judgments, suddenly four angels make their appearance. They are standing on the four corners of the earth, and are holding the four winds, that they should not blow upon the earth.
Another angel is seen having the seal of the Living God. He cries, “Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.”
In a moment we will be observing the “sealing” of the Lord’s servants. Now we wish only to observe one salient thing.
The winds and the elements are subject to God. All things operate under the fiat of God. The God who made laws, can easily cause them, for the time, to be inoperative. The Creator is greater than His creation.
Let not the vagaries of evolution deceive the children of God. God is Creator, and He is back of every law that governs His creation, God did not create, and then desert a marvelous and most intricate, and yet helpless creation.
We come back to our first contention-the fact that the angels of God held the winds in their control-in this there is nothing beyond the power of our faith to grasp.
II. THE SEALING OF THE ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-FOUR THOUSAND (Rev 7:3-4)
1. Where are the ten lost tribes? We have heard many discussions as to the present-day identity of the ten lost tribes. Much of this, to us, seems speculative. This much we know, the twelve tribes are kept under the eye of an all-powerful God. The Jews may have swallowed up many of the ten tribes. However, we believe that all of Israel is not held in the two and one-half tribes which we commonly know as “the Jews,” or the “Hebrews.”
James addressed an Epistle to “The Twelve Tribes scattered abroad.” Centuries have past since then. Now we are suddenly brought face to face, in our study, with the sealing of one hundred and forty-four thousand, from all the tribes of Israel. After this comprehensive statement, in order that no doubt may becloud us, the Spirit specifies the tribes by name, and speaks of the sealing of twelve thousand from each tribe.
This is no small matter. In it is tied up the fulfilment of more than one Old Testament prophecy pledge. Take, for example, the prophecy of Ezekiel. Under inspiration he wrote: “Behold, I will take the Children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, * * and I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king over them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all.”
Here in Rev 7:1-17 we are brought face to face with the beginning of God’s fulfilment of this pledge. After centuries and centuries have past, and after the ten tribes have been lost to human eye; suddenly all twelve tribes are thrown back on the pages of Scripture in the throes of the last anguish, the Day of Jacob’s trouble.
2. Who kept the Children of Israel intact? We have all read the story of Jonah swallowed, but undigested. That was, indeed, a notable miracle; and its fact, caused Nineveh to repent at the preaching of the “vomited up” Prophet. Here, however, is a miracle that a thousand times outclasses Jonah.
God’s chosen race has been swallowed of the nations, but undigested; they have been cast into the furnace of affliction, but not destroyed. They have been cast in the den of lions, where authorities and powers have all conspired against them, and yet they have come forth unscathed. God’s election preserves him.
3. What is the destiny of Israel? The same God who has kept Israel during the centuries will not now allow them to be utterly consumed. Israel’s greatest sorrow lies just around the next shore line. The antichrist, during the Tribulation, will throw out great floods of antagonism to drown her. He will seek to annihilate her from the earth, however, beyond the Tribulation we will yet see Israel in national power and glory, restored to her land. Her sorrows and tribulations will prove no more than God’s method to bring her to repentance. God will not fail His people. He will not cast His unfulfilled promises to the wind. Israel shall yet dwell under one King, as twelve tribes, in their own land. God will surely bring back His own from every nation under Heaven, whither He hath driven them, and they shall inherit their possessions.
III. THE SEALING OF THE ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-FOUR THOUSAND CONTINUED (Rev 7:3-4)
1. The personnel of the one hundred and forty and four thousand. They are Hebrews; of this we are certain. They are Hebrews from twelve, and not from two and one half tribes. They are covenant people, we know. They are a people chosen of God, and precious. They have, however, been a sinful and rebellious people; but are now the servants of their God.
2. The cause and purpose of the sealing. The angel with the seal of God cried with a loud voice, saying. “Hurt not the earth, * * till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.”
There is, in the period of Tribulation, which we are now considering, other groups who are sealed-they are sealed by the antichrist. They bear his mark in their foreheads and in their hands. This mark of the antichrist is a sign of their allegiance to the antichrist. They who bear his mark, are they who worship his image, and operate under the number of his name.
Here, then, is another “marked” group. They are marked because they are “servants of God.” They are marked of God, because they have refused the mark of the beast. They are marked because they are called of God to special service.
3. The significance of the sealing. It seems to us that some mighty movements of the God of all grace will parallel the wonders and signs wrought by the antichrist during the Tribulation.
When the Church is raptured, and prophecy begins to unfold, many of Israel will awaken to the verity of Scripture. Remember, also, that God’s two witnesses will not witness in vain. Are these one hundred and forty-four thousand not traceable to their testimony? Besides, angel warnings will constantly be given from the skies.
It does not, therefore, seem to us a thing incredible that the hundred and forty-four thousand of Israel are called, “the servants of our God.”
4. The reason for their name-“The servants of God.” They are servants, because they serve. We cannot but feel that they will become the heralders of the Gospel of the Kingdom, even as Christ, in speaking of the signs of His Coming, and of the ending of the age, said, “This Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come” (Mat 24:14).
Remember the verse just quoted does not refer to the Church preaching the Gospel of grace, and then shall the Rapture come. This preaching leads up to the end of the Tribulation, not to the end of the Church age.
Perhaps these very one hundred and forty-four thousand will be saved Jews, who will, with the fervor of an Apostle Paul, carry the Gospel to thousands; acclaiming the Advent of the Messiah.
AN ILLUSTRATION
“The Wailing Wall is the only portion of the old Temple to which the Jews have access. They assemble there every Friday afternoon, sometimes in hundreds, and there they kiss the stones and flood them with tears, manifesting the love and zeal expressed by the Psalmist, ‘For Thy servants take pleasure in her stones, and favour the dust thereof” (Psa 102:14). While the Jews thus display their religious fervor the Arabs mock and ridicule from the wall above, which is ever calculated to provoke revolt. The Jews thrust their hands into the crevices of the sacred stones, and put in slips of paper on which are written prayers to Jehovah. They also pray with their mouths in the crevices that their prayers might rise from holy ground. At stated times the leaders read from the Prophecy of Isaiah (Isa 64:9-12): ‘Be not wroth very sore. O Lord, neither remember iniquity for ever * * Thy holy cities are a wilderness, Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation. Our holy and our beautiful House, where our fathers praise Thee, is burned with fire: and all our pleasant things are laid waste. Wilt Thou refrain Thyself for these things, O Lord? wilt Thou hold Thy peace, and afflict us very sore?’
“Then at about four o’clock in the afternoon the Rabbins Litany is said. A Rabbi cries: ‘For the place that is destroyed,’ and the people wail the response; ‘We sit in solitude and mourn,’ and so on-
“‘For the walls that arc overthrown’
“‘We sit in solitude and mourn’;
“‘For the majesty that is departed’-
“‘We sit in solitude and mourn’:
“‘May the Kingdom soon return to Zion’-
“‘Comfort those who mourn over Jerusalem.'”
Thank God the Jews are yet under the eye of God. He will save them in due time.
Fuente: Neighbour’s Wells of Living Water
Rev 14:1. The preceding chapter took us back to the first century of the Christian Era and dealt with the years of Pagan Rome, then came on to the time of Papal Rome and predicted the Dark Ages of 1260 years. The present chapter will continue down through that period and through the days of the Reformation, finally reaching the last great day of judgment and the separation of the saved from the unsaved. The Lamb is Christ and Zion is the true church which has been persecuted all through the Dark Ages. In the course of that period there were multitudes of faithful Christians who would not receive the mark of the beast, but instead they had the name of the Father written in their foreheads.
Comments by Foy E. Wallace
Introduction.
V THE DISCLOSURES OF DIVINE JUDGMENTS (Chapter 14)
The fact necessary to remember and observe in perusing the book of Revelation is that the entire Revelation was a visional pageantry of the oppressions of the church by imperial heathen persecuting powers during the time of the then existing powers and the life of the then existing churches. The verbs employed in its terminology are such as was and saw, but that is characteristic of both visional and prophetic expression. An exact example is found in Isa 9:2 : “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them the light hath shined.” This prophetic passage is quoted by the Lord in Mat 4:16, as being fulfilled by his coming into the world, yet it was spoken seven hundred years before his earthly advent. This is so throughout the book of Revelation; it was composed a decade or more prior to the destruction of Jerusalem; before several other epistles of the New Testament were written; and was a description of the events of the ten emperor period from Nero to Diocletian, yet its language was largely in past and present tenses, as though the events were current.
The fourteenth chapter appears to be an intentional prolepsis–the dating of events out of chronological order –in that the scenes of judgment indicated the end of conflict and tribulation, whereas the following chapter reverted to the war against the church in accentuated fury. Thus the entire fourteenth chapter was of a proleptic character. The development in order of the progressive descriptions of successive events was abandoned for the in-between scenes of the outcome in the victory of the saints and of judgment on the persecuting powers. The chapter’s imagery is that of the defeat of the three great foes of the church –the dragon, the sea-beast and the land-beast; followed by scenes of victory for the woman (the church), and of judgment on her foes.
Verse 1.
(1) The hundred forty-four thousand–Rev 14:1-5.
1. And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him a hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads–Rev 14:1.
The Lamb standing on mount Zion was Christ: and mount Zion was the symbol of the new Jerusalem, where the new covenant was inaugurated, and where the church was established; and which Paul declared, in Gal 4:26, to be the mother of us all. This heavenly Jerusalem was held in contrast with the old outward and earthly Jerusalem which here was representative of Judaism with all of its apostasies.
This new mount Zion was the seat of the new spiritual temple, as the dwelling of the New Testament church, described in Rev 11:19 as “measured off for them that worship there”–the firstfruits, further mentioned by Paul as the firstborn, in Hebrews 12;22-23:
“But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect.”
The hundred forty-four thousand was the numerical symbol for that great number of saints which were redeemed from the earth. These were the martyred number of the woman’s seed, designated in chapter twelve as the man child which was caught up unto God in contrast with the remnant or rest of the woman’s seed which remained on the earth to suffer tribulation, but not martyrdom. It is stated that this grand group of the hundred forty-four were redeemed from the earth–they represented the select company of martyrs, purchased by the blood of martyrdom, and having been redeemed from the earth they therefore belonged to heaven where they had been caught up unto God. These redeemed thousands with the Lamb had his Father’s name written in their foreheads in contrast with not having the mark of the beast in their hands and on their foreheads. It was their badge of identification and mark of distinction.
The number hundred forty-four thousand was based on the mathematical calculation of twelve times twelve, as a symbolic reference to the twelve patriarchs of the old dispensation and the twelve apostles of the new covenant, and the number signified the full number of martyred saints. Here again the proleptic character of this chapter was applied, in that the full number of martyrs were visualized in the midst of rather than at the end of the scenes of death by martyrdom, which followed in the succeeding chapters. This chapter therefore abandoned the orderly succession of the events for the between scenes view of the final victory of the saints and judgment of the beasts.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Rev 14:1. First the Lamb is seen standing on the mount Sion. It is the same Lamb that we have already met with at chap. Rev 5:6,the once crucified, but now risen and glorified, Lord. The mount Sion is neither the literal Sion at Jerusalem, nor the Christian Church, but simply the most appropriate place for the people of God to occupy, the holy mount, the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High. The scene of preservation is not heaven but earth.
And with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his name and the name of his Father written on their fore-heads. These are the sealed of chap. 7, not one lost. True, they are not spoken of as the sealed. In chap. 7 they were so described, for their preservation was there the prominent thought. Now that they have been preserved and admitted as priests within the veil, our attention may be directed to the contents of the seal. These are in part at leastit is not necessary to think whollythe name which belongs at once to the Father and to the Lamb, the name Lord. St. John, as his manner is, is loftier than St. Paul, who says, Ye are the Lords (Rom 14:8).
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Subdivision 4. (Rev 14:1-20.)
The earth-change at hand.
We have now a section which seems designed to put together in review the various acts of God in view of the change which is at hand, whether these be in blessing or in judgment. There is mercy, as ever, while yet the world is in its special trial, and evil is fully searched out and under the hand of God.
1. The manifestation of evil is complete. We are now to see God’s dealings as to it. These acts of Satan and his ministers are a plain challenge of all His rights in Israel and the earth; and further patience would be no longer patience, but dishonor. Hence we find now, as if in answer to the challenge, the Lamb upon mount Zion, that is, upon David’s seat; and as the beast-followers have his mark upon them, so the followers of Christ, associated with Him here, have His and His Father’s name upon their foreheads. What this means can scarcely be mistaken.
Zion is not only identified in Scripture with David and his sovereignty, but very plainly with the sovereign grace of God, when everything entrusted to man had failed in Israel -priesthood had broken down, the ark gone into captivity in the enemy’s land, and although restored by the judgment of God upon the Philistines, it was no more sought unto in the days of Saul, who, though Jehovah’s anointed king, had become apostate. All might seem to have gone, but it was not so, and in this extremity, as the seventy-eighth psalm says, “The Lord awoke as one out of sleep. . . . And He smote His adversaries backwards. Moreover, He refused the tent of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim, but chose the tribe of Judah -the mount Zion which He loved. . . . He chose also David His servant.” Nor was this a temporary choice, as a later psalm adds: “For Jehovah hath chosen Zion, He hath desired it for His habitation. Here is My rest forever; here will I dwell, for I have desired it” (Psa 132:13-14).
Thus, though the long interval of so many centuries may seem to argue repentance upon God’s part, it is not really so. “God is not man, that He should lie; nor the son of man, that He should repent.” The Lamb on Zion shows us the true David on the covenanted throne, and Zion by this lifted up, indeed, above the hills. The vision is of course anticipative; for by and by we find that the beast still exists. The end is put first, as it is with Him who sees it from the beginning, and then we trace the steps that lead up to it. With this method all will be familiar who are familiar with the Psalms.
But who are the 144,000 associated with the Lamb? Naturally, one would at once identify them with the similar number sealed out of the twelve tribes in the seventh chapter; and the more so, that the Lamb’s and His Father’s name upon their foreheads is surely the effect of this very sealing which was upon the forehead also. No other mark is given us as to them in the former vision, save that we read of them as exempted from the power of the locusts afterwards. Here, if it is not directly affirmed that they are sealed, yet it seems evident, a seal having been often a stamp with a name, and the purpose of the sealing in the former case being a mark they had as God’s. This is manifestly accomplished by His name upon them. This open identification with Christ in the day of His rejection might seem to be just what would expose them to all the power of the enemy. Yet it is this which, in fact, marks them for security. In reality, what a protection is the open confession of Christ as the One we serve! There is no safer place for us than that of necessary conflict under the Lord’s banner; and the end is glory. Here they stand, then, these confessors openly confessed by Him on His side; and their having been through the suffering and the conflict is just that which brings them here upon the mount of royalty. It is, “If we suffer, we shall also reign with him.”
Another inestimable privilege they have got, (though clearly an earthly, not a heavenly company) they are able to learn a song that is sung in heaven: “And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as a voice of great thunder; and the voice which I heard was of harpers harping with their harps and they sing a new song before the throne and before the four living beings and the elders and no one was able to learn the song except the 144,000 that were purchased from the earth.”
It is clear that the company here occupy a place analogous to that of the Gentile multitude of the seventh chapter, who there stand before the throne and the living ones also. The vision in either case being anticipative, we can understand that earth and heaven are at this time brought near together, and that “standing” before the throne and “singing” before the throne involve no necessary heavenly place for those who sing or stand there. Here, they stand upon mount Zion, while they sing before the throne -that is, if the singers are primarily the 144,000, as many think. What seems in opposition to this is that the voice is heard from heaven, and that the company on mount Zion are spoken of as learners of the song. On the other side, the difficulty is in answering the question, Who are these harpers? plainly human ones, who are distinguished from the elders, yet in heaven at this time. Remembering what the time is, may help us here. May they not be the martyrs of the period with which the prophecy in general has to do -those seen when the fifth seal is opened, and those for whom they are bidden to wait -the sufferers under the beast afterward? two classes which will be seen as completing the ranks of the first resurrection in the twentieth chapter. Those here would give us a third class evidently, neither the heavenly elders nor the sealed ones of Israel, and yet in closest sympathy with the latter. It could not be thought strange that the 144,000 here should be able to learn their song, and at the time when the Lamb is King on Zion this third class would certainly be found filling such a place as that of the harpers here. This seems indeed to meet the difficulty; for their song would clearly be a new song such as neither the Old Testament nor the revelation of the Church-mystery could account for, while the living victors over the beast would seem rightly here to enter into the song of others, rather than themselves to originate it.
But they have their own peculiar place as on mount Zion, first fruits of earth’s harvest to God and to the Lamb, purchased from among men, (grace, through the blood of Christ, the secret of their blessing, as of all other,) but answering to that claim in a true, undefiled condition, in virgin-faithfulness to Him who is afresh espousing Israel to Himself. In their mouth, thus, no lie is found, for they are blameless, and these last words we shall surely read aright when we remember that to those who have not received the love of the truth God will send strong delusion, that they may believe the lie (2Th 1:11), and the apostle’s question, “Who is the liar, but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ?” and that “he is the antichrist who denieth the Father and the Son” (1Jn 2:22). The names of the Lamb and of His Father are on the foreheads of these sealed ones.
2. We have now the earth-gospel, which we need not wonder to be in some sense a gospel of judgment. Thus the denunciative woe upon the beast-followers, as well as the announcement of the fall of Babylon, may enter into it, for these are the necessary clearing of the earth from the power of evil which oppresses it. The everlasting gospel is in terms accordant to this: “Fear God and give Him glory, for the hour of His judgment is come.”
(1) It is the fore-gleam of the day that comes that the first vision of this chapter shows us but although the time is coming fast, we are first to see the harbingers of judgment, and then the judgment, before it can in fact arrive. Righteousness unheeded when it spoke in grace must speak in judgment, that the work of righteousness may be “peace, and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance forever.” In this way it is that we come now to what seems to us, perhaps, who have one of so much higher character, a strange, sad gospel, and yet the everlasting one which an angel flying in mid-heaven preaches to the inhabitants of the earth. How any one could confound this gospel of judgment with the gospel of salvation by the cross, would seem hard to understand, except as we realize how utterly the difference of dispensations has been ignored in common teaching, and how it is taken as a matter of course that the “gospel” must be always one and the same gospel, which even the epithet “everlasting” is easily taken to prove. Does it not indeed assert it, that the same gospel was preached, of course in a clearer or less clear fashion, all through the dispensation of law, and before it?
No doubt the everlasting gospel must be that which from the beginning was preached and has been preached ever since, although it should be plain that the “hour of His judgment is come” is just what with truth no one in Christian times could say. Plain it is, too, that the command to worship God the Creator is not what any one who knew the gospel could take as that now. In fact, the gospel element, the glad tidings in the angel message, is just found in that which seems most incongruous with it today -that the “hour of His judgment is come.” What else in it is tidings at all? That certainly is; and if serious, yet to those who know that just in this way deliverance is to come for the earth, it is simple enough that the coming of the delivering judgment is in fact the gospel.
Listen to that same gospel as a preacher of old declared it. With what rapture of exultation does he break out as he cries, “O sing unto the Lord a new song; sing unto the Lord all the earth; sing unto the Lord, bless His name, show forth His salvation from day to day. Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous works among all the peoples. . . . Tremble before Him all the earth. Say among the nations that the Lord reigneth, the world also is established that it cannot be moved. He shall judge the peoples with equity. Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar and the fulness thereof; let the field exult, and all that is therein. Then shall all the trees of the woods sing for joy before the Lord; for He cometh, for He cometh to judge the earth. He shall judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with His truth” (Psa 96:1-13). Here is a gospel before Christianity, and which has been sounding out all through Christianity, whether men have heard it or not. This, too, is the echo of what we hear in Eden before the gate of the first paradise shuts upon the fallen and guilty pair, that the Seed of the woman should crush the serpent’s head. That is a gospel which has been ringing through the ages since, which may well be called the everlasting one. Its form is only altered by the fact that now at last its promise is to be fulfilled. “Judgment” is to “return to righteousness.” The rod is iron, but henceforth in the Shepherd’s hand. Man’s day is passed; the day of the Lord is come, and every blow inflicted shall be on the head of evil, the smiting down of sorrow and of all that brings it. What can he be but rebel-hearted who shall refuse to join the anthem when the King-Creator comes unto His own again? The angel-evangel is thus a claim for worship from all people, and to Him that cometh every knee shall bow.
We must not imagine that the “angel” here is necessarily this. God’s way is to speak by human messengers, and He will doubtless do it at the time we are considering. Those brethren of the Lord whom He owns as such at the time when judgment separates the sheep from the goats, and by the conduct towards whom the condition of men is judged then, are doubtless these very preachers, who are Israelitish as suits the time, and as the “brethren” of the Lord speaks them to be. It is according to the words in Micah, where he speaks of “the remnant of His brethren” returning unto the children of Israel. The passage has been elsewhere examined.
(2) That the message of judgment is indeed a gospel we find plainly in the next announcement, which is marked as that of a second angel, the third following, similar in character, as we shall see directly. Here it is announced that Babylon the Great has fallen: before, indeed, her picture has been presented to us, which we find only in the seventeenth chapter. The name itself is, however, significant as that of Israel’s great enemy, under whose power she lay prostrate seventy years and itself derived from God’s judgment upon an old confederation, the seat of which became afterward the centre of Nimrod’s empire; but that was not Babylon the Great, although human historians would have given her, no doubt, the palm. With God she was only the type of a power more arrogant and evil and defiant of Him than the old Chaldean despot, and into whose hands the Church of Christ has fallen -the heavenly, not the earthly people. It is an old history rehearsed in a new sphere, and with other names -a new witness of the unity of man morally in every generation.
The sin on account of which it falls reminds us still of Babylon, while it has also its peculiar aggravation. Of her of old it was said, “Babylon hath been a golden cup in the Lord’s hand that made all the earth drunken. All nations have drunk of her wine; therefore the nations are mad” (Jer 51:7). But it is not said the “wine of the fury of her fornication.” This latter expression shows that Babylon is not here a mere political, but a spiritual power. One who belongs professedly to Christ has prostituted herself to the world for the sake of power. She has inflamed the nations with unholy principles which act upon men’s passions easily stirred, as we have seen in fact in Rome. By such means she has gained and retained power. By such, after centuries of change, she holds it still. But the time is at hand when they will at last fail her, and this is what the angel declares now to have come. Babylon is fallen, and that fall is final. It is the judgment of God upon her. It is retributive justice for centuries of corruption; it is a note of the everlasting gospel which claims the earth for God and announces its deliverance from its oppressors, but we have yet only the announcement. The details will be given in due place.
(3) A third angel follows, noted as that, and belonging therefore to the company of those that bring the gospel of blessing for the earth. That it comes in the shape of a woe we have seen to be in no wise against this. Babylon is not the only evil which must perish that Christ may reign; and Babylon’s removal only makes way at first for the full development of another form of it more openly blasphemous than this. The woman makes way for the man: what professes at least subjection to Christ, for that which is in open revolt against Him. Here, therefore, the woe threatened is far more sweeping and terrible than in the former case. There are people of God who come out of Babylon, and who therefore were in her to come out (Rev 18:4); but the beast in its final form insures the perdition of all who follow it: “If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead or in his hand, he shall even drink of the wine of the fury of God which is mixed, unadulterated, in the cup of His wrath, and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb; and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up to the ages of ages, and they have no rest day nor night who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.”
It is the beast who destroys Babylon, after having for a time supported her. His own pretension tolerates no divided allegiance, and in him the unbelief of a world culminates in self-worship. Here God’s mercy can only take the form of cold and emphatic threatening of extreme penalty for those who worship the beast. In proportion to the fearful character of the evil does the Lord give open assurance of the doom upon it, so that no one may unknowingly incur it. Here “the patience of the saints” is sustained during a “reign of terror” such as has never yet been.
3. Faith, too, is sustained in another way, namely, by the special consolation as to those who die as martyrs at this time: “And I heard a voice out of heaven saying, Write, Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth.” That is plainly encouragement under peculiar circumstances. All who die in the Lord must be blessed at any time, but that only makes it plainer that the circumstances must be exceptional now which require such comfort to be so expressly provided for them. Something must have produced a question as to the blessedness of those who die at this time; and in this we have an incidental confirmation -stronger because incidental -that the resurrection of the saints has already taken place. Were they still waiting to be raised, the blessedness of those who as martyrs joined their company could scarcely be in doubt; but the resurrection having taken place, and the hope of believers being now to enter alive into the kingdom of the Son of man at His appearing, (as the Lord says of that time, “He that shall endure to the end, the same shall be saved” -Mat 24:14,) the question is necessarily raised. What shall be the portion of these martyrs, then, must not remain a question; and in the tenderness of divine love the answer is here explicitly given. Specially blessed are those who die from henceforth. They rest from their labors. They go to their reward. The Spirit seals this with a sweet confirming “yea” -so it is. Earth has only cast them out that heaven may receive them; they have suffered, therefore they shall reign with Christ. Thus, accordingly, we find in the twentieth chapter that when the thrones are set and filled, those that have suffered under the beast are shown as rising from the dead to reign with the rest of those who reign with Him. Not the martyrs in general, but these of this special time, are marked distinctly as finding acknowledgment and blessing in that first resurrection from which it might have seemed that they were shut out altogether. It may help some to see how similar was the difficulty that had to be met with the Thessalonian saints, and which the apostle meets also with a special “word of the Lord” in the first epistle. They also were looking for the Lord, so that the language of their hearts was, with that of the apostle, “we who are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord.” They had been “turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven;” and with a lively and expectant faith they waited. But then, what about those who were fallen asleep in Christ? It is evident that here is all their difficulty. He would not have them ignorant concerning those that were asleep, so as to be sorrowing for them, hopeless as to their share of blessing in that day. Nay; those who remained would not go before these sleeping ones. They would rise first; and those who were alive would then be “caught up with them to meet the Lord in the air.” This for Christians now is the authoritative word of comfort. But the sufferers under the beast would not find this sufficient for them. For them the old difficulty appears once more, and must be met with a new revelation. How perfect and congruous in all its parts is the precious word of God! and how plainly we have, instead of what might seem an obscure or strange expression, -“blessed from henceforth,” -a confirmation of the general interpretation of all this part of Revelation! The historical interpretation, however true as a partial, anticipatory fulfilment, fails here in finding any just solution.
4. In the next vision the judgment falls. The Son of man upon the cloud, the harvest, the treading of the wine-press, are all familiar to us from other scriptures, and in connection with the appearing of the Lord. We need have no doubt, therefore, as to what is before us here. The harvest naturally turns us back to our Lord’s parable where the wheat and tares represent the mingled aspect of the kingdom, the field of Christendom. Tares are not the fruit of the gospel, but the enemy’s work, who sows not the truth of God, but an imitation of it. The tares are thus the children of the wicked one, deniers of Christ, though professing Christians. The harvest brings the time of separation. First the tares are gathered and bound in bundles for the burning; but along with this, the wheat is gathered into the barn. In the interpretation afterwards we have a fuller thing. The tares are cast into the fire, and the righteous shine forth as the sun in their Father’s kingdom.
Here, the general idea of harvest would be the same; but it does not follow that it will be necessarily identical with that in the gospel. In fact, this could scarcely be. The wheat is, at the time which we are considering, already reaped in that case, and in the barn. The field is that sown in the generations passing, by the gospel; but the parable of the sheep and goats shows us that there will yet be discriminative judgment; thus a harvest, where that which is for God is gathered in, as well as what He cannot own cast away. The idea is general, and we do not seem able more to particularize. In what follows there is no further discrimination, but judgment pure and simple.
5. Thus, in the vintage, the grapes are cast wholly into the great wine-press of the wrath of God; and thus it is the angel out of the altar who has power over the fire, at whose word it comes. The vine of the earth is a figure suitable to Israel as God’s vine (Isa 5:1-30), but now apostate. Yet it cannot be confined to Israel, as is plain from the connection in which we find it elsewhere, but it represents in any case an apostasy, and thus what we have seen to have its centre at Jerusalem, though involving Gentiles also, far and near. Thus the city, outside of which the wine-press is trodden, is Jerusalem, as the 1600 furlongs is well known to be the length of Palestine. Blood flows up to the bits of the horses for that distance -of course a figure, but a terrible one.
Both figures, the harvest and the vintage, are used in Joel with reference to this time: “Proclaim ye this among the nations; prepare war; stir up the mighty men; let all the men of war draw near; let them come up. Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning-hooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong. Haste ye and come, all ye nations round about, and gather yourselves together; hither cause Thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord. Let the nations bestir themselves and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat, for there will I sit to judge all the nations round about. Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, tread ye, for the wine-press is full, the vats overflow; for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision, for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining; and the Lord shall roar upon Zion and utter His voice upon Jerusalem, and the heaven and the earth shall shake: but the Lord will be a refuge unto His people and a stronghold to the children of Israel.”
Thus comes the final blessing, and the picture upon which the eye rests at last is a very different one. “So shall ye know that I am the Lord your God, dwelling in Zion My holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more. And it shall come to pass in that day that the mountains shall drop down sweet wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the brooks of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall come forth of the house of the Lord and water the valley of Shittim. . . . And I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed; for the Lord dwelleth in Zion.”
Fuente: Grant’s Numerical Bible Notes and Commentary
This verse represents to us a fresh vision which St. John had, in which several things are very observable, as,
1. What and whom St. John was, a Lamb, by whom Christ is to be understood.
2. The posture which this Lamb was found in, he stood, showing thereby his readiness to deliver his church, and to do every thing that is needful for her.
3. The place where he stood on, Mount Sion, that is, in the midst of the church. Christ ever has been, is, and will be, present with his church, even to the end, although his presence with her is not always sensibly perceived; his care is mysteriously exercised; he is then taking most care of her when he seems to take least, nay, when the men of the world think he takes none at all.
Observe, 4. His company and attendants, and they are described two ways,
1. By their number, to wit, an hundred forty and four thousand, whereby the collective body of the whole church is to be understood; and intimates to us, that in the worst of times, even when apostasy and persecution do most universally prevail, Christ never wants a church, and is not without a number of true worshippers.
2. They are described by their badge or mark, having their Father’s name written in their foreheads; in opposition to the mark of the beast mentioned in the foregoing chapter, and in allusion to a custom amongst men, who put their mark or names upon thier goods, especially upon such as are very precious, as silver or gold vessels, and the like; so that the mark of the Father’s name upon the forehead denotes both the precious esteem which God has of his people, and also intimates their open profession and owning of him for their Lord and Master, and their faithful adherence to his worship.
Learn hence, That the sincere worship of God, with the open and avowed profession of his holy and undefiled religion, accompanied with a suitable conversation, is a better mark and note of the true church than multitudes and numbers, which are a note of the antichristian synagogue: the world wonders after the beast, when Mount Sion here affords only an hundred forty-four thousand, which had the Father’s name written on their foreheads.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
In chapter 7, we saw these sealed to be kept safe. Now, we see not one of them was lost, for they are with the Lamb on Mount Zion, which is the church, heaven’s vestibule. ( Psa 125:1 ; Heb 12:22-24 ) There is a sense in which heaven is ours while we are still on earth. ( 1Jn 2:24-25 ) It is our possession in promise and can only be taken away if we are not faithful. The Father’s name written in their foreheads must be the seal of chapter 7.
Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books
Rev 14:1-4. I looked, and behold a Lamb The Lord Jesus, in the form of a lamb, or as the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world, and not only with horns like a lamb; stood on mount Sion Namely, the heavenly Sion; and with him a hundred forty and four thousand The same select number that was mentioned Rev 7:4, the genuine followers of the twelve apostles, apostolically multiplied, and therefore the number of the church, as six hundred and sixty-six is the number of the beast; and as the followers of the beast have the name of the beast, so these have the name of God, and, as some copies add, of Christ, written in their foreheads As being the redeemed of God and of the Lamb, his now unalienable property, and as having been, when on earth, his professed servants, and the same as the witnesses. This prophecy often introduces the inhabitants of heaven as a kind of chorus, with great propriety and elegance. The church above, making suitable reflections on the grand events which are foretold in this book, greatly serves to raise the attention of real Christians, and to teach the high concern they have in them. Thus is the church on earth instructed, animated, and encouraged, by the sentiments, temper, and devotion of the church in heaven. And I heard a voice Or sound, from heaven Sounding clearer and clearer; first at a distance; as the sound of many waters Or thunders; and afterward, being nearer, it was as of harpers harping on their harps It sounded vocally and instrumentally at once. And they sung With voices and instruments of music; as it were a new song The Christian song, which they sung before, chap. 5.; and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty-four thousand Those who had been the true spiritual worshippers of the one true God, through the one true Mediator, Jesus Christ; all the rest of mankind offering up their devotions to other objects, and through other mediators; or not worshipping with a truly spiritual worship; which were redeemed from the earth From this present evil world, being bought by the blood of Christ, and delivered from the guilt and power of sin by the word and Spirit of God. These are they which were not Or, had not been, defiled with women It seems that one kind of defilement, and the most alluring temptation, is put for every other. Or rather, the meaning is, that they had kept themselves pure from the stains and pollutions of spiritual whoredom, or idolatry, with which the other parts of the world were miserably debauched and corrupted. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth Who are nearest to him; or rather, the meaning is, who followed the Lamb in all things while on earth; who adhered constantly to the religion of Christ, in all conditions and in all places, whether in adversity or prosperity; whether in conventicles and deserts, or in churches and cities. These were redeemed from among men Rescued from the corruptions prevalent among mankind, and consecrated as the first-fruits unto God and the Lamb An earnest and assurance of a more plentiful harvest in succeeding times. And in their mouth was found no guile They were as free from hypocrisy as from idolatry; for they were without fault before the throne of God They resembled their blessed Redeemer, who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth, (1Pe 2:22,) and were, as the apostle requires Christians to be, blameless and harmless, the sons of God without rebuke, &c., Php 2:15. But possibly it may be asked, Where did such a church ever exist, especially before the Reformation? To which it may be replied, That it hath existed, and not only in idea, history demonstrates; as it hath been before evinced that there hath been, in every age, some true worshippers of God, and faithful servants of Jesus Christ; and as Elijah did not know the seven thousand who had never bowed the knee to Baal, so there may have been more true Christians than were always visible.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Revelation Chapter 14
In chapter 14 we have the dealings of God with the evil, only first owning and setting apart the remnant. The remnant belongs entirely to the renewed earth: they are seen on that which is the centre of dominion and glory in it-Mount Zion where the Lamb shall reign. They had His and His Fathers name on their foreheads; that is, by their open confession of God and the Lamb they had been witnesses of it, and suffered as Christ had suffered in His life in owning God His Father: only they had not suffered death. It was a new beginning, not the assembly, not heavenly, but the blessing of a delivered earth in its firstfruits in those who had suffered for the testimony to it. Heaven celebrates it with a voice of many waters, and as of thunder, but with joy. This voice was the voice of harps. A new song is sung before the throne and beasts and elders. Here the fact is the important thing. There had been a song in and of heaven, in chapter 5 in connection with redemption; but those who were redeemed there were made kings and priests. Here it was redemption in connection with earthly blessings, not with the kingdom and priesthood on high; and it is sung before the heavenly company and throne. Heaven however is directly connected with the song. It was connected with triumph over the power of evil by patient endurance of suffering.
What specially characterised them was purity from the contamination that surrounded them. This passing through sorrow and overcoming connects them directly with the heavenly conquerors. It was not the new song of heavenly redemption; still it was victory when down at the gates of death, though not actually in it. It was as it were a new song. This none could learn but those who had shared the earthly sufferings of the Lamb, and would now be His companions in His earthly royalty; they had followed Him, they would follow Him whithersoever He went. They are the firstfruits of the new scene. They had not corrupted themselves where all did. They were not of those who loved or made a lie, or gave in to it. Corruption and falsehood they had been kept free from, openly confessing the truth. They had not the heavenly place, but they are without fault, and they share the Lambs earthly place and glory, accompanying Him whithersoever He goes, in the manifestation of that glory. All that led to these privileges had no place when once the kingdom was set up. It was then too late to shew faithfulness in this way. There is a connection with the heavenly saints which is not in chapter 7. The white-robed multitude stood before the throne and the Lamb. They are before the throne of God, they worship in His temple, and the Lamb comforts them. Here there is special association with the Lamb on earth, in their path and in their consequent place. It is the remnant of the Psalms (especially 1 – 41). But, though on earth with the King, they are redeemed from among men before Christ comes to earth; and the song they learn to sing is sung before the elders and living creatures. They are not with them, but they sing the song sung before them; that is, the Gentile multitude are admitted to special privileges before God and the Lamb; the Jewish remnant are associated with the Lamb on earth, and, in a certain sense, with heaven.
The progress of Gods ways follows-warning to the earth to leave idolatry; for the hour of Gods judgment was come. The everlasting gospel is the testimony of Christs power, from paradise onward, as in contrast with the special announcement of the assembly, and glad tidings connected with it. Babylon is announced to be fallen; threats and warnings to any that should own the beast; but the time is now come when dying in the Lord was to cease; only their blessedness remained henceforth. Dying and tribulation were over. They are looked at as one whole body; and while any remained yet to die, they were diers in the Lord, not rested and blessed. Now their rest is come and their reward.
Christ then reaps the earth-separating, gathering, and judgment; and treads the winepress, exercise unmingled vengeance on the wicked. Hence in this last judgment it is the angel who had the power over fire who calls for it; it was full divine judgment. This judgment was not within the limits of Babylon -was not in the sphere in which man had formed and ordered his organization in opposition to God. This closes the whole scene of that which the history had begun by the catching up of the Man-child to heaven. He has returned in vengeance. An interesting question here arises-What is the vine of the earth? It is that which is the fruit bearing organization, or what should be so (that is the idea of it), in professed connection with God, as His planting in the earth. Israel has the vine brought out of Egypt. Christ on earth was the true vine. It is not connection with Him in heaven. There we are looked at as perfect, not to bear fruit and be pruned. But analogously it went on after He had ascended on high, and professing Christians are the branches. But here it is the vine of the earth, that which has its character and growth therein, but with the pretension to take the religious place by succession on the earth. The true saints are gone on high, or are a persecuted individual remnant. I have no doubt the Jews will be the centre of that system then, but they will be mixed up with Gentiles, have turned to idolatry, and have seven spirits worse than that; and the apostate Gentiles will be fully associated with it all. (See Isa 34:1-17, Isa 63:1-19, Isa 65:1-25, Isa 66:1-24)
Fuente: John Darby’s Synopsis of the New Testament
WE are here introduced to the Lamb and His bride standing on Mt. Zion. The chronological panorama corroborates the conclusion, as in Chapter 7, that the rapture has come, the bride is called, the first resurrection has taken place, the living saints have been translated, and all rendezvoused on Mt. Zion, at Jerusalem, preparatory to their ascension into the firmament. The wonderful supernatural graces of entire sanctification always superscribe the Divine cognomen in the faces of His saints. How much more preeminently will this be verified in the transfigured saints!
2-3. Here John testifies to the uproarious shouts of this multitude, like the thundering billows of the great ocean breaking against the rock-bound shore, commingled with the deafening roar of tremendous thunder-claps, all softened and sweetened by the dulcet clarion of golden harps. Meanwhile, amid the tremendous roar, the prophet distinctly discriminates the new song of redemption, rung out from the immortal and indefatigable voices of the blood-washed throng. He tells us this is the song of Moses and the Lamb. Moses was the mediator of the Old Covenant, on the basis of justification, and Christ of the New, whose standard is entire sanctification. Hence, we find the members of the bridehood all testify in song to this wonderful double salvation, experienced in regeneration and entire sanctification.
4-5. These verses testify to the complete purification received by all the members of the bridehood. The term women symbolizes the spiritual impurity from which we are all rescued by redeeming grace. Its metaphoric signification, contrastively with virgins, must not be pressed too far. Remember Paul says (Gal 3:28):
In Him is neither male nor female.
Hence, there is no such thing as sexual distinction in the kingdom of grace and glory. In this Scripture woman symbolizes carnality, and virgin holiness. So you must not literalize this spiritual symbolism, as some have done, and gone into fanaticism, teaching the incompatibility of entire sanctification with the conjugal relation. John testifies that the members of the bridehood are the first-fruit unto God and the Lamb, while the glorious harvest is to be reaped during the millennium. This reveals the great and universal mistake on the part of Gods people in recognizing the present age as the harvest. It is a time of toil, conflict, and persecution, in which much seed is sown, irrigated by tears; but, as we are here informed, the reaping is only the first-fruit. This harmonizes with our Saviors testimony, that the saved are few. In vain do we anticipate the wonderful ingathering of the nations while Satan and his myrmidons are loose on the earth. Till they are cast out, the pilgrims on the Kings highway will be here and there a traveler. We should now lay all the powers and agencies of Christendom under contribution to preach the gospel to all nations, that the elect of grace may enjoy a participation of the bridehood. We here see that the only condition of membership in the bridehood is entire sanctification. They are all blameless, and no guile found in their mouth. Hence we see they are fully saved from all phases of hypocrisy. Where will the bride be during the tribulation period? 1Th 4:13; 1Th 4:18 : We learn that the Lord will come and take up His saints, raising the departed from the dead and translating the living. After this, when He comes to reign, He will bring with Him these same transfigured saints. What will the members of the bridehood up in the firmament during the tribulations be doing? While the Ancient of Days here on earth is administering the awful premillennial judgments (Dan 7:13), the Son of God will be administering a very important premillennial judgment among the members of the bridehood. We are copiously informed in the word of God, that Christ will rule the millennial world through His transfigured saints. Perfect order characterizes the universe of God in all worlds. Consequently, the very Greek word cosmos, which means order, also means the world. Hence, you may rest assured the millennial world will be the beau-ideal of perfect order, as neither the devil nor his emissaries will be here to disturb it. When we contemplate, not only the perfection, but the magnitude and diversity of the millennial administration, we must wake up to the fact that quite an extensive judicial diagnosis and distribution will be necessary to prepare the members of the bridehood to understand, assume, and fulfill the diversified offices in the coming kingdom. Be assured, no interest, however small, will he overlooked by the transfigured custodians of the glorious theocracy, which shall belt the globe from the rising to the setting sun in the good time coming. The present age is significantly called night in the apostolic Epistles. During the long night of six thousand years, oh, how Satan and his myrmidons have lacerated, abused, and impoverished this earth! They have barbarically worn out the fertile soils and exposed the valuable lands to the deluging rains, which have washed them into chasms, thus transforming great regions into deserts. All these waste lands will he restored and transformed into the fruitful gardens of the Lord. Thus the members of the bridehood, by their immortal sagacity and loving presence, must superintend ten thousand interests in every land and clime. When Christ descends to enter upon His millennial reign, He will be accompanied by His bride, thoroughly equipped, organized, posted, and ready, in perfect order, to take possession of every nation under heaven, and conduct the millennial administration, eliciting the admiration of angels and archangels. The brutal outrages of Satan and his satellites, demoniacal and human, will sink into oblivion, felicitously forgotten amid the glory that shall cover the whole earth. The powers of the earth at this day, in the different continents, are about twelve. How convenient for the twelve apostles to encumber the great thrones of the nations, as Jesus said unto them, I appoint unto you a kingdom, as My Father hath appointed unto Me; that you may sit upon twelve thrones, ruling the twelve tribes of Israel! Doubtless the two hundred millions of martyrs will he exceedingly prominent in the millennial administration.
6-7. I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven having the everlasting gospel to preach. The prophetical panorama clearly authenticates the conclusion that this angel is the present Holiness movement. He is not only commissioned to preach the doctrine of holiness to all nations, but the coming of the Lord to judge the wicked Gentiles and the fallen Churches, and to call back the world to the worship of God only. We see from this chapter that this gospel of holiness and the Lords coming is to be preached to all nations by the Holiness people. Bishop Taylor has twelve hundred missionaries in the heathen field, Hudson Taylor eight hundred, A. B. Simpson four hundred, and General Booth twelve thousand, all preaching entire sanctification. Here we see four sanctified preachers, without a dollar, having fourteen thousand four hundred missionaries preaching the gospel of holiness to nearly all the nations of the earth. The Holiness movement, without salaries, has more missionaries in the heathen field than all the Churches on the globe, with their wagon-loads of gold and silver. Men and women without financial resources are flying to the ends of the earth preaching the everlasting gospel of entire sanctification to all the nations. Last year I traveled twenty-two thousand miles, and did not have twenty-two cents to start with.
8. This angel proclaims the fall of Babylon, which will speedily follow the preaching of the gospel to all nations. We see from the 18th chapter that Babylon will fall in the midst of the tribulations. The proclamation here is anticipatory of the coming event.
9-11. Here the Apocalyptic Angel pronounces the unutterable woe of eternal damnation on all who worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in the face or the hands. What is this beast? The Greek, theerion, means a bloodthirsty, carnivorous, ferocious wild beast. Daniel and John use it constantly to denote human governments, independent and defiant of God, in contradistinction to the theocracy, which is Gods government for Church and State. Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome, the great empires of bygone ages, are all called beast in these prophecies. Rome, the greatest and most ferocious of all the beasts, had seven heads i.e., the kingdom, the consulate, the dictatorship, the triumvirate, the tribuneship, the empire, and the papacy each of which, in its time, enjoyed the headship of this monstrous beast. The sixth head was cut off by the barbarians, A.D. 476. Then and there Satan put on the beast the seventh head i.e., the papacy which the beast carries, and through which he rules the world. The beast will retain the papal head till his final ejectment into the lake of fire (Rev 19:20).
You see, from these facts, that the beast is the world-power i.e., this fallen world including Romanism and all other worldly religions.
Since Satan conquered this world in Eden, it has been the irreconcilable enemy of God. Hence those who serve i.e., worship the world are the enemies of God. What is the image of the beast? This is the fashion of the world, with all its pomp, pageantry, and paraphernalia, including the whole concatenation of idolatry in all the fallen Churches of the world. What are the marks of the beast? Tobacco, opium, strong drink, gluttony, and debauchery all distinctly mark their victims. Satans corset, compressing the chest, superinducing all sorts of internal ailments of lungs, heart, liver, kidneys, diaphragm, and stomach, destroying the natural symmetry and developing the taper-wasp waist, is a hideous and horrific mark of the beast. All sorts of jewelry and needless ornamentation are forbidden in the word of God, and belong to the marks of the beast. These are mainly about the face and hands, the unclothed parts of the body.
Now, reader, if you dont want to be tormented forever in fire and brimstone, you must not worship the beast nor his image. The literal meaning of the Greek Scripture for conversion is to take you out of the world. The lexical meaning of sanctify is to take the world out of you. Hence you see the regenerating and sanctifying grace of God is the only possible remedy for this universally-prevalent and damnable idolatry which worships the beast and his image; i.e., the world and its fashion.
ENDLESS PUNISHMENT
This problem, which has been called in question by infidels and skeptics of all ages, who, under the cognomen of religion, have written wagon-loads of books to disprove the eternity of the sinners punishment, is here settled by the Holy Ghost beyond the possibility of cavil. He here certifies, in reference to those who worship the beast and his image and receive his mark, who really include this entire wicked world, that the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever. The eternal ascension of the smoke symbolizes the endless punishment of the wicked. Universalists and Restorationists have labored for ages to find a cessation to the adverb, forever and ever, when hell will cool off, Satan relax his grip, and the victims of damnation go free. Now, reader, the positive proof of the utter absurdity of this popular dogma, and the unequivocal confirmation of the Bible doctrine of endless punishment, are now patent and conspicuous before the eye of the candid student. The Greek translated forever and ever is eis aioonas aioonoon, the meaning of which is unto ages of ages, or eternities of eternities. Now, if this dont express endless duration, can you tell me what combination of words would convey such an idea? You find this phrase in the 11th verse of the 14th chapter, and used to describe the duration of the punishment which awaits all the people who worship the beast and his image. In the 7th verse of the 15th chapter, where the English says, God liveth forever and ever, the Greek is that same combination of plural nouns which we have in the 11th verse of the 14th chapter, describing the duration of the sinners doom. Hence, it follows as an inevitable conclusion, from the plain and positive word of God, that the punishment of the wicked will he co-eternal with the existence of God. The very same argument which will quench hell-fire and discontinue the retributions of the lost, will inevitably prove that the time will come when God Himself will cease to exist. From these, and many other similar quotations, you see the utter folly, consummate nonsense, and transparent sophistry of all those facetious dogmas so pompously arrayed to disprove the Bible doctrine of eternal damnation.
WHAT BECOMES OF PEOPLE SO SOON AS THEY DIE?
The saints enter heaven immediately, and the wicked drop suddenly into hell. The intermediate paradise into which the Old Testament saints were gathered was abolished at the resurrection of Christ. (1Pe 3:18;
Eph 4:8. See my next volume.) Since Christ, the first-fruit, passed into heaven, accompanied by the sacramental host of Old Testament saints, the pearly gates have ever stood ajar for all who die in the Lord.
13. I heard a voice from heaven saying, write: Blessed are the dead from henceforth who die in the Lord. The Greek word aparti, translated from henceforth, means instantaneously, from the very moment. Hence you see the problem is solved and the question is settled. The very moment you die, you are flooded with heavenly bliss, and sweep triumphantly into the glory-land. There, as the Spirit says, they shall rest from their labors, and their works follow with them.
THE LORD COMES TO TAKE UP HIS SAINTS
14. In this verse we see the Lord coming in a white cloud with a golden crown upon his head, and a sharp sickle. The 15th verse describes another angel coming out of the temple, and shouting with a loud voice to the Son of man sitting on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle and reap, because the hour of reaping has come, and the harvest of the earth is fully ripe.
16. The one sitting on the cloud cast His sickle into the earth, and the earth was reaped. The 6th verse of this chapter describes the Holiness movement flying into all parts of the world and preaching the everlasting gospel of entire sanctification and the Lords near coming to all nations. This is the great sowing which has been in progress already twenty years. It is sowing down all nations with the gospel of holiness, and ringing out the proclamation, Behold, He cometh!
Mat 24:30-31 :
Then shall the sign of the Son of man appear in the skies; then all the tribes of the earth shall mourn, and see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and much glory. He shall send forth His angels with a great sound of a trumpet; they shall gather His elect out of the four winds, from the extremities of the heavens unto the extremities of the same.
Luke describes the same scene (21:28):
When these things begin to transpire, take courage and lift up your heads, because your redemption drapweth nigh.
These Scriptures from our Saviors sermon on the judgments, which He preached on Mt. Olivet the day before He was crucified, vividly and graphically describe the rapture when He shall come and gather His saints from all the ends of the earth, raising the dead and translating the living.
Matthew 9 :
Then two men shall be in the field; one is taken, and one is left. Two women are grinding in the mill; one is taken, and one is left.
You see plainly and clearly, from these statements of our Savior, that this cannot describe the final judgment; for then all on the earth, both living and dead, will be taken. Therefore, it must be the premillennial resurrection and judgment, in which He will come and take up His saints with Him into the cloud, as Paul says. There is a striking harmony between the prophecies of Jesus, Paul, and John, each of whom describes Jesus coming in a cloud and gathering out His saints from every laud under heaven. Daniel (12:1) also add his testimony: At that time Thy people shall be delivered, every one that is written in the book. The connection here shows that it is deliverance from the great tribulations destined to come upon the whole earth, shaking every monarch from his throne, racking all nations with mighty revolutionary earthquakes, and filling the world with blood, slaughter, and desolation.
With these prophetical corroborations, we return to our text.
16-18. These three verses describe our Savior coming on a cloud and reaping the harvest of the whole earth, which are declared to be fully ripe. You must bear in mind the logical connection in this chapter between the sowing and the reaping. While in a sense the sowing has been in progress in all bygone ages, the direct and pre-eminent allusion is to the present great and universal sowing by the Lords people in the present Holiness movement. How long this gospel sowing shall continue, till the Lord comes to reap His crop of saints, we know not; but the prophetical connection certainly does involve the conclusion that it will not be long.
THE GATHERING OF THE VINTAGE MEANS THE WICKED
You will see from this chapter the contrastive results of preaching the gospel. Those who receive the message delivered by the holy evangels personified by the angel in the 6th verse, get saved, sanctified, robed, and ready to meet the Lord descending on the cloud in verse 14, constitute the harvest of saints which the glorified Savior will reap when He comes. Do not forget that these angels all represent heavenly influences, and are executives of the Divine administration. They are respectively the subordinates of the Holy Ghost.
17. Another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, himself also having a sharp sickle. This is the angel of Divine retribution, destined to come upon all who reject the gospel of holiness, which is now, by the angel of the 6th verse, being preached in all the earth.
18. You see the angel described in this verse comes from the altar in heaven, and that he is the custodian of the fire on that altar. This is the fire that sanctifies all the people who receive appreciatively the gospel of holiness. That angel stands by the heavenly altar flaming with the Holy Ghost fire, whose office it is to consume all sin and exterminate it from the heart. Oh, how he delights, in answer to the prayer of complete consecration and appropriative faith, to send down that fire in the copious, sanctifying baptism of full redemption from all iniquity! Now that the people have persistently, obstinately, and finally rejected heavenly fire, they are shut up to the solitary alternative of hell-fire. Hence you see that this angel of heavenly fire flies down to earth and shouts aloud to the angel of retribution: Thrust in thy sharp sickle and reap the great bunches of the vine of the earth, because her grapes are fully ripe.
19, 20. These two verses glowingly describe the awful doom of the people on the earth who reject the gospel of holiness, preached by Gods ministers in the present revivals. God in great mercy has raised up the Holiness movement in every country under heaven. We know it is of God because it is everywhere; human agency cannot account for it. Last year I traveled in Europe, Asia, Africa, and about twenty States in America, everywhere meeting the heavenly influence of this wonderful revival. It is Gods last call to a doomed world. The thunders of his premillennial judgments are already shaking the nations. The time of retribution is nigh, when the angel will forsake his post beside the heavenly altars to herald the awful doom of earths impending ruin. We see, in these Scriptures, the angel of retribution thrust in his sickle, reap the vintage of a God-rejecting world, and cast it into the great wine-press of Gods terrible castigatory judgments, long due the wicked nations and fallen Churches of a God- forgetting world. The red grape juice gushing out of the wine-press emblematizes the blood flowing copiously from the wounded and the dying. Hence this is the awful doom destined to overtake the wicked in the oncoming tribulations.
The battle of Armageddon is here adumbrated in epitome. The blood flows to the horses trappings. In the East, war-horses are decorated with regalia, frequently hanging down below their knees. Such was the ornamentation of the noble Arabic steed rode by my armed escort (a Bedouin Arab) when I traveled -through the wilderness of Judea to the Dead Sea, River Jordan, and Jericho. The idea is that the battlefield will flow with rivers of blood, so as to crimson the horses regalia. Rome is to be the center of the battleground, which is to extend one thousand six hundred furlongs; i.e., two hundred miles. As Rome is the successor of Babylon, the persecutor of the ancient Church, she here symbolizes antagonism to the Divine government, and represents the apostate Church in all the world. The Holiness movement, symbolized by the angel in the 6th verse, is this day preaching the gospel throughout the whole world with wonderful expedition. Hudson Taylor, with his eight hundred missionaries, is in China. Sanctified Bishop Thoburn, with his five Conferences, is in India. Sanctified Bishop Taylor, with his twelve hundred sanctified missionaries, is in Africa. A. B. Simpson is fast scattering his sanctified missionaries throughout the heathen world. Last August, at Old Orchard Camp- meeting, in Maine, he raised seventy-two thousand dollars for missions at a single collection. The Salvation Army, with twelve thousand holiness preachers, belts the globe. Astounding is the velocity with which the Apocalyptic Angel i.e., the Holiness movement is flying to the ends of the earth preaching entire sanctification and the speedy coming of the Lord to all the nations on the face of the whole earth.
As you see in this chapter, the Lord will soon ride down on a cloud, reap the sanctified harvest, and take away His bride. Then the retribution angel comes down and reaps the vintage, which means the wicked who rejected the gospel of holiness and the Lords coming. You see this terrible destruction of the wicked immediately follows the Lords harvest of the good. They both follow as legitimate sequences of the gospel sowing. The one class received it and were harvested into the heavenly garners; those who rejected it fell in the terrible and universal slaughter, symbolized by the vintage, with rivers of blood two hundred miles wide, and deep enough to crimson the trappings of the war-horses. Daniel graphically describes this terrible doom of a wicked world and a fallen Church (7:9,10):
I beheld till the thrones were cast down and the Ancient of Days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of His head like the pure wool; His throne the fiery flame, and His wheels burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth before Him: a thousand thousand ministered unto Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him. The judgment was set and the books were opened.
This is not the final judgment, because you see, as you read on, that the Lords millennial kingdom follows, whereas the conflagration of the world will accompany the final judgment (2Pe 2:10). Hence, this is the premillennial judgment, in which the thrones of this world will all be cast down, preparatory for the King of kings to descend, establish His kingdom, and reign forever. Whereas the Son will come in His glorified humanity, which ascended up from Mt. Olivet, and be visible to mortal eyes as He was then, the Ancient of Days here spoken of is the Father, who has no incarnation, and is consequently invisible.
The Father said to the Son, Sit Thou on My right hand, till I make Thine enemies Thy footstool. The Son still encumbers the intercessory throne at the right hand of the Father. He is Prophet, Priest, and King. On earth, He was the most indefatigable preacher i.e., prophet the world ever saw. Having finished His gospel ministry, He entered upon His priestly office in the capacity of high priest, offering His body on the cross, a sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. Then flying up to heaven, He sits down on the mediatorial throne at the right hand of the Father, there, by His intercessory prayers, to perpetuate His priestly office till He descends to reign over the world. Meanwhile, the Father is administering the government of this world amid frequent castigatory judgments, which will finally culminate in the great tribulations, when the invisible Ancient of Days will sit upon the premillennial judgment-seat in this world, till all the thrones shall fall, kingdoms crumble, and Babylon topple to rise no more. Then the Son of man will come down in the clouds, take the scepter of the world from the hand of the Ancient of Days, and rule all nations forever. (Dan 7:13-14.)
This exegesis is abundantly corroborated by the parable of our Savior in reference to the nobleman who went away to a far country to receive a kingdom, and to return. (Luk 19:11-13.) While they heard these things, proceeding, He spoke a parable, because He is near unto Jerusalem, and they think that the kingdom of God is to appear immediately. Therefore He said: A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive a kingdom and to return. This parable clearly, explicitly, and abundantly proves the hypothesis so currently and copiously set forth in all the prophecies relative to our Lords millennial reign. This cannot possibly be identified with His spiritual kingdom. Daniel says (7:21, 22):
I beheld, and the same horn i.e., the pope made war with the saints, and prevailed against them, until the Ancient of Days came and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.
Now you know that every saint is already in possession of Christs spiritual kingdom. Hence you see this is bound to mean the temporal kingdom, which the saints will receive from the Ancient of Days when He shall have cast down all the usurpatious, rebellious, humanistic, Nimrodic thrones on the earth, both political and ecclesiastical, and thus prepared the way for His glorified Son to descend, sit down on the millennial throne, and reign from the rising of the sun to the going down thereof. It is an unquestionable fact that all of His disciples were on the constant outlook for His temporal kingdom. But we see clearly from this parable in Luke 19 th that He has gone away to His Father in heaven to receive this contemplated kingdom, for which He taught us to pray, Thy kingdom come. He is to receive this kingdom from His Father, whose judicial reign on the earth will make His enemies His footstool. This parable proceeds to describe our glorious coming King, distributing the governments of the world among His saints, according to their respective ability, giving to one ten cities, to another five, et cetera. This is in perfect harmony with Dan 7:22 :
Judgment was given to the saints of the Most High.
The meaning of the word judgment, in this and many other Scriptures, is the government of the world. Hence Daniel and Luke, as well as Paul and John, positively certify, under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, that the saints of God are going to possess the governments and become the rulers of the world, under the sovereignty of the glorified Christ in the coming kingdom. Lord, help us to be candid, honest, and true and fear to handle the word of God deceitfully. Our Christ is both man and God. His divinity reigns in His spiritual kingdom in the heart. His glorified humanity, filled with the divinity, will reign in the coming kingdom. So surely as He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, He will ride in on a cloud. So surely as He hung on a cross, He will sit on a throne. Zechariah says: His feet shall stand upon Mt. Olivet.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
Rev 14:1-5. Lo, a Lamb, the Lord Christ, stood on mount Zion, and with him a hundred and forty four thousand, whom he had redeemed to God by his blood. Here is the church of the firstborn, both jews and gentiles, distinguished as the first heirs of glory, and our forerunners to heaven, the redeemed, the washed, the elect of God. Yet their best portion, as the first heirs of glory, does not obstruct the salvation of others. All there is light, glory, and joy, at the nuptials of the Lamb. See on chap. 7.
The eulogies of this church are great and high. They are nearest the eternal throne, they bear their Fathers image and name, they are happy beyond degree, and sing new songs of redemption, of victory over every foe, and have full possession of the eternal inheritance. The song is exclusively theirs, yet others may share in the joy. They glorify God for preserving them from the feasts and abominations, where sin is without shame. Their felicity is associated with harps of sweetest sound; joys and songs, which the giddy crowds in carnal feasts can neither relish nor taste: they cannot learn that song till they get a new heart. They follow the Lamb in all the paths of righteousness, and shrink not at the cross, but continue with him in his temptations. In a word, no guile was found in their mouth; they retain their first love and simplicity to the end of their course.
Rev 14:6-7. I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having his commission immediately from God. He was like the seraphim, burning with ardour to tell the good news to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people. He saw the world lying in a state of apostasy from the covenant of Noah. The missionaries carry no new religion to the heathen, but the religion of their fathers, made perfect in Christ. He saw them lying in darkness, and brought them the light of life; he preached the righteousness of God to men enslaved by every crime. He saw the anguish of the woman without the certainty of a husband; he saw the tyranny of their chiefs and princes; and what is more, he saw them under the tyranny of Satan, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.
The manner of his preaching is with fervour; he cried with a loud voice, Fear God. Abstain from crimes. Give glory to him for all his grace; be now converted at once, and from all your sins; for the hour of his judgment is come. Give your idols to the moles and the bats, and worship him that made heaven and earth, for all the heavens worship him by obedience. Cry in your thirst to him that made the fountains of waters, infinitely valuable in the sandy deserts, and the torrid zones. The present revivals of religion, connected with bible and missionary efforts in the whole christian church, are thus favoured with the cares of heaven.
Rev 14:8. There followed another angel, saying, as the order of the words are in the Greek, Fallen, fallen, is Babylon the great. See the note on Rev 11:8.
Rev 14:9-11. A third angel followed, saying with a loud voice, if any man worship the beast and his image, after the full blaze of gospel light, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God. On the ages of past ignorance God has winked, but he will punish all image-worship, as he punished the worshippers of the golden calf. While I am writing this, the Spaniards are drinking the bitter cup of a civil war, and God is avenging the blood which the Inquisition has shed. He has sworn that the earth shall not conceal the blood of his saints.
Rev 14:17-20. Another angel came out of the temple, on a mission more terrific than all the other scourges of God. He is arrayed in all the aspects of war, with a falchion in his hand. This is probably the last war, and may be associated with the final battle, alluded to in the nineteenth chapter. God will surely strike at the atheism of Europe; and it does not appear that mahomedanism can be chased away, except by the storms of war, that the gospel may follow the darkness with its healing beams.
REFLECTIONS.
We pass here from the sorrows to the joys of the church. While the beast and his victims go down to the abyss, the firstborn sons of Zion sing with the Lamb on the holy mount. To hold fast the faith in evil times is the first and best character of Gods faithful flock. They wept on earth, but they shall sing in heaven.
The angel, superintending the revival of preaching, and of spreading the everlasting gospel, seems to refer to the reformation from popery, and to all the subsequent efforts to instruct the heathen. Besides, in this age the Bible society in London, connected with other societies in Europe, and in the East Indies, have done incredible things in diffusing the light of revelation. They have circulated the holy scriptures in a great number of languages, many of which are in India and China. The missionaries will keep pace with this light, and encourage the slumbering churches of the east to shine forth as the lamps of heaven, where Satan has long reigned in all the horrors of idolatry, attended with an infinitude of human sacrifices. But this loud voice from heaven assures us, that ere long they shall worship none but Him who made heaven and earth, and the fountains of water. So far prophecy and providence admirably accord, and promise to subjugate the world to the faith of Christ.
The second angel, announcing the fall of Babylon, is presently followed by the third angel, with a loud voice of judgment against the worshippers of the beast, and of departed spirits or demons, and who obstinately do it in defiance of the light of the reformation, and persecute the protestants unto death. Yet in the church of Rome, God surely knows how to deliver the good men of hidden piety, whom the papal bishops and others have persecuted. God always had a people in the church of Rome, who have flourished as the lily among the thorns of corrupt creeds, and superstitious rituals. Making this exception, look now on the infatuation and vengeance which have fallen on the clergy, and the friars, who wore the badges and habits of the beast, during the late war of more than twenty years. Look now, and see how they have drank of the cup, with which their fathers drenched the protestants. And if repentance was denied them, this vengeance fell upon their souls as well as on their bodies. What is still more awful, the punishment is everlasting, as is also implied by the brimstone which retains fire, and by the ever-ascending volumes of smoke. Hence it is of no avail for any men to attempt a mitigation of those torments, because the deliverance of devils and men from hell is not revealed in our scriptures. See note on Mat 25:46. Now, before those evil times of vengeance on Babylon, blessed are the dead who die in the Lord: they are taken from the evil, and their works follow, as seals of their faith in Christ.
The white cloud on which the Son of man sat, and the angel which followed to reap the harvest, and the second angel which followed to cut the vintage, betoken Gods severest judgments by repeated strokes on both rich and poor. The scene of those judgments is the mystical Roman Babylon, as in Rev 14:8; and the second verse of the next chapter celebrates the victory over the beast of the Turkish empire. The mode of obtaining this victory was to be by war, and war so terrible that the blood should reach to the bridles of the horses. The extent of this war was to be chiefly in the space of two hundred miles, or one thousand six hundred furlongs. There is no way of saving the mahomedans but by the shaking of all those nations, and by the removal of their power.
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Rev 14:1-5. After the horror and tragedy of the last two chapters, we have another pause in the movement of the drama, a new vision of heaven and the bliss of the redeemed.
Rev 14:1. the Lamb: this chapter recalls the vision in ch. 5 (cf. Rev 5:6).mount Zion: Zion is the Christian Acropolis, but whether the reference here is to the earthly or heavenly Zion cannot be determined. For the 144,000, cf. Rev 7:4, where possibly the number covers only Jewish Christians. Here there is no suggestion of any such limitation, for in Rev 14:3 they are described as they that had been purchased out of the earth.name . . . on their foreheads: cf. Rev 7:3 f. and contrast the mark on the foreheads of the worshippers of the beast (Rev 13:16).
Rev 14:2. many waters: cf. Rev 1:15.
Rev 14:3. a new song: cf. Rev 5:9.four . . . elders: Rev 4:4; Rev 4:6*.
Rev 14:4. they are virgins: the term virgin is in the masculine, and should be translated celibates. Whether it is to be taken literally here is disputed. As Swete says, No condemnation of marriage, no exclusion of the married from the highest blessings of the Christian life, finds a place in the NT. And if we were to press the meaning of the word virgin or celibate here, this passage is an exception to the general teaching of the NT. Moreover, the imagery used in chs. 21f. throws a halo of sanctity over marriage. The probability is therefore that the words here describe not celibates but men who had kept the marriage-bond inviolate.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
The Lamb and 144,000 on Mount Zion
In the first five verses of this chapter we find another striking preview of the blessing of the godly remnant in Israel. This preview is given at the time when the nation is involved in the most brazen idolatry in its history. The Lamb standing on Mount Zion (v. 1) indicates His eventual complete triumph over idolatry. The 144,000 with Him remind us of Rev 7:2-8 where all twelve tribes are represented and seen as sealed in their foreheads. In this chapter the 144,000 have the name of the Lamb and of His Father written on their foreheads. This is in marked contrast to the mark or name of the Beast in the foreheads of his deceived victims.
Mount Zion is on earth, its name meaning “sunny.” This name is specially used for Jerusalem in connection with the sunshine of her millennial glory. A voice is heard from heaven as the voice of many waters and of great thunder (the voice of the great power of God), together with the voice of harpers (v. 2). These have deepest interest in the 144,000 Since they are distinguished from the elders, the harpers must be those martyred during the two halves of the Tribulation Period (Rev 6:9-11, Rev 13:15, Rev 20:4).
These singers of verse 2 sing a new song which only they and the 144,000 can learn (v. 3). This song appears to be that of joyous triumph of faith resulting from God’s intervention on their behalf when suffering the great sorrows of the Tribulation. Both of these companies have deep sympathy for each other: no one else could enter into a song of this kind as they could. The reason for this is that they have both gone through deep suffering in the Tribulation Period.
The 144,000 are those who have kept free from the adulterous defilement of the doctrine of the beast and False Prophet (v. 4), for faith has been awakened in them to follow the Lamb wherever He leads, however great the dangers. They are redeemed, liberated by the grace of God in virtue of the blood of the Lamb, from among men and called “the firstfruits to God and to the Lamb.” From one viewpoint, Christ Himself is the firstfruits (1Co 15:22). From another viewpoint, those who are saved now are “a kind of firstfruits” (Jam 1:18), but in the millennial kingdom the twelve tribes will be the firstfruits of all the blessing on earth.
“In their mouth was found no guile” (v. 5) reminds us of Psa 32:2. Only when David frankly confessed his whole guilt of adultery and murder before God in connection with Bathsheba and Uriah (2Sa 11:1-27) was this true of him. Such brokenness and confession will be likewise true of Israel, for they have been guilty of adulterous unfaithfulness to God and of the murder of their Messiah. For centuries they have sought to cover up their sin by daring to accuse Jesus of being an imposter and therefore justifying their having put Him to death. But when they see their great Messiah as He appears in Jerusalem at the end of the Great Tribulation they will be broken down in genuine repentance (Zec 12:10-14). Their hearts will be laid bare in God’s sight. Because of their new-found faith in the One whose sacrifice atones fully for their sins, God will impute righteousness to them. They are therefore seen “without fault before the throne of God.”
An Angel With the Everlasting Gospel
In the first five verses of this chapter God has shown His counsels of blessing for Israel: now the rest of the chapter summarizes some solemn events of the Tribulation Period that will lead to this. When judgment is about to fall, an angel is seen flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to all who dwell on the earth, Jews and Gentiles (v. 6). This preaching will be by means of those (mainly) Jews awakened and born again during the Tribulation, and the flying angel denotes the urgency of the message. It is “the everlasting gospel,” not the gospel of the grace of God in Christ Jesus as is preached today.
Rather, it is the gospel (or good news) that creation itself has preached throughout history, that God is Creator of all, but now added to it the fact that the hour of judgment has come (v. 7). Man must face His Creator: let him therefore now bow to His authority. This may not seem like “good news” to many, but it is “good news” for a world crushed and torn by man’s sin. Judgment is the only hope, the only relief from mankind’s ruined state. It is an appeal to every individual to bow to God rather than to the bestial systems of man’s idolatry.
Babylon’s Fall
Another angel then announces that Babylon is fallen (v. 8). Babylon, the great harlot that sits on many waters (Rev 17:1), claims to be “the Church” with headquarters in Rome, the city of seven mountains (Rev 17:9). Because of her profession she has greater responsibility than any other company on earth at that time, and thus must first be judged. She is shown to have utterly failed in her responsibility. This judgment will be seen more fully in chapters 17 and 18.
The Beast’s Worshipers
The judgment of Babylon is followed by a third angel who declares the awful judgment of those who worship the Beast and his image and who receive his mark in their forehead or hand (v. 9). This judgment goes beyond that of the Tribulation. The language of verses 10 and 11 is dreadful: God’s wrath is poured out without any alleviating mixture into the cup of His indignation, with the torment of eternal fire and brimstone. Men will reap the well-deserved results of their brazen defiance and blasphemy against their Creator.
In the light of verse 11 (and other scriptures such as Mat 25:46 and Rev 20:10)) what folly it is for anyone to belittle the horror of eternal punishment and to claim that the torment of hell is not eternal! There is no end to the smoke of their torment: they have no rest day or night. God does not mince words to accommodate the objections of unbelief. He means what He says and His words are intended to put the fear of God into men’s souls, not to lessen their concern as to judgment.
Verses 12 and 13 intervene to encourage the faith of the godly who refuse the mark of the Beast. At such a time the patience (or endurance) of those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus is specially commended. Though martyred for their obedience to God in those days of awful trouble, they have the unspeakable comfort of a voice from heaven, “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” It is a special blessing for that time, though certainly the fact is true at all times. The Holy Spirit then affirms the precious reality of their rest from their labors (in contrast to the worshipers of the Beast in verse 11) and of the lasting fruitfulness of their works. Rev 20:4 speaks of their resurrection before the Millennium to the eternal joys of heaven, a more blessed reward than that of those who are not martyred and only inherit the earthly kingdom, as wonderful as that will be.
The Harvest Reaped
In verses 14 to 20 the direct judgment of the Son of Man is briefly described by two different pictures-the harvest and the winepress. Christ is spoken of as “one like a Son of Man” (v. 14) because, though He is truly Man, He is more than man. His sitting on a cloud indicates some measure of obscurity: though He is acting directly, yet the world will not fully realize it. The cloud being white infers the perfect purity of the judgment. The crown of divine glory is on His head, for here He takes His rightful authority. His hand holds a sharp sickle, a sharp hand tool used by early farmers to cut down a large amount of grain by each swing of the arm.
Later we see Him coming in glory with a sword protruding from His mouth (Rev 19:15), for there He fights against His enemies. In the case of the sickle, His judgment is seen from the viewpoint of His acting to bring forth fruit for His eternal glory. He cuts down the grain with the object of separating the wheat from the chaff. The harvest is therefore not unmingled wrath in indiscriminate destroying of mankind, but rather involves a discriminating separation of the good from the bad. Reaping is not destruction, but for the benefit of the great Reaper.
Wonderful are the counsels of divine love! If the grain is cut down, yet this is in view of a general harvest. Many will be brought low who will prove to be believers, lifted up again and blessed by the grace of God. The suffering of the Tribulation is not emphasized in the harvest, but the resulting blessing. Many among the Gentile nations will be saved as well as thousands from Israel. Those from the Gentile nations are spoken of in Mat 25:31-46 where the Son of Man sets the sheep on His right hand and the goats on His left. The sheep are entitled to enter into eternal life, being given all the blessings of the Millennium, while the goats (unbelievers) are assigned to eternal punishment because of their mistreatment of the Lord’s brethren (the godly Jews), which indicated their attitude toward Christ Himself.
An angel coming out of the temple spoke the word to Him who sat on the cloud, who swung His sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped. (v. 16). In Mat 13:30 the harvest involves the wheat gathered into the barn, with the tares (the children of the wicked one) left in bundles for burning. The wheat in that case is the Church (all believers from Pentecost to the Rapture), spoken of in Jam 1:18 as “a kind of firstfruits” of God’s harvest, taken to heaven at the Rapture, while the following Tribulation harvest (in our present chapter) will be that of the multitude who are saved for earthly blessing in the Millennium, the tares and the chaff being burned up in judgment.
The Winepress
In verse 17 “another angel” comes out of the temple in heaven with a sharp sickle. The temple emphasizes the holiness and calm deliberation of the judgment. In verse 18 a different angel still, one who had power over fire, came out from the altar, and he gives the word to the angel with the sickle to use the sickle to gather the vine of the earth because its grapes were ripe. The angel with the sickle is not “one like the Son of Man.” Perhaps the reason for this is that in the case of the winepress, everything is total judgment, the unmitigated suffering of the wrath of God. Nothing is said of resulting blessing. The vine is thrown into the great winepress of the wrath of God and the winepress is trodden outside the city. A winepress was a large vat in which the grapes were placed, and the people in bare feet walked or stamped around in the vat and thus squeezed out the grape juice. Thank God, He will bring great joy out of this tremendous sorrow, for the resultant wine speaks of joy, but the emphasis here is not on joy, but on the unspeakable suffering that will afflict the people, specially in the land of Israel, which will bear the worst of the agony of the Tribulation.
When the winepress is trodden outside the city (not in Jerusalem), blood covers a distance of 1600 furlongs-about the length of the land of Israel-“up to the horses’ bridles.” This must be figurative, but an awesome figure! The bloodshed will go far beyond the control of those who have begun the devastation. As to Israel at that time, “in all the land, two parts shall be cut off and die” (Zec 13:8). In 1988 the population of that country was estimated at 4,500,000. Two-thirds of that number would be fully three million people. Such decimation of Israel’s population is staggering to imagine. We are not told how many Gentiles will die, but Joe 3:9-13 shows that both the harvest and the vintage will affect Gentiles as well as Jews. Rev 19:1-21 speaks of this very time of the winepress (v. 15), when the judgment is against the Gentiles at Armageddon. The winepress involves more than this one engagement, however, for the winepress spoken of in Joe 3:12-13 is at a different location-the Valley of Jehoshaphat at Jerusalem.
Fuente: Grant’s Commentary on the Bible
12 The Remnant (Revelation 14)
In Revelation 12 and 13 we have been instructed as to the activities of Satan and his two leading instruments during the three and a half years that close the present age. In this terrible time all the evil that man can devise under the leading of Satan will be allowed to come to a head. Nevertheless, we now learn, in Revelation 14, that during this solemn time God, who is over all, will be working in securing a people for the blessings of the kingdom and in bringing the wicked under judgment.
(Vv. 1-5) From the opening verses of the chapter we learn that God will have a faithful remnant of believers who will be preserved through the horrors that will mark the reign of the beasts. This remnant is brought before us in a vision that John sees of an hundred and forty-four thousand saints, associated with the Lamb on Mount Zion. As a figure, Zion speaks of God acting in sovereign grace in connection with Israel in contrast to His dealings under law at Mount Sinai (see Psa 78:65-68; Heb 12:18-22). Does not the whole scene set forth in symbol that, in these closing days, God will intervene in sovereign grace on behalf of a godly remnant of the Jews, who will be redeemed from the earth, associated with Christ as the suffering Lamb, preserved through persecution, to become the first-fruits to God and the Lamb of the great harvest of souls that will be gathered from the nations to share in the glory of Christ’s kingdom?
This remnant will bear a public witness to God and the Lamb for, in contrast to the followers of the beast, they will have the Name of the Lamb, and His Father’s Name, on their foreheads (N. Tr.). Though passing through the world’s miseries, they will have heaven’s joy, for they sing a new song which only the redeemed can sing. We learn, too, under the figure of not being “defiled with women” that they will be kept in separation from the appalling defilements of the days in which their lot will be cast – a condition that, we know from other Scriptures, will be similar to the days before the flood and the days that preceded the judgment of Sodom (Luk 17:26-30). Moreover, they will not only be separate from evil but they will also be a positive witness to Christ, for they will be faithful followers of “the Lamb whithersoever He goeth.” They will not seek to escape suffering or persecution by any false pretension, for on their lips will be “no guile,” and in their practical conduct they will be “without fault.”
How good, too, for believers in this our day, who are the subjects of sovereign grace, to seek to walk in separation from the growing evils of the day, whether political or religious, and, in obedience to the Word, take a place outside the camp, in order to gather to Christ, and as it were “follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth;” to witness to Christ without “guile” and walk “without fault.”
(Vv. 6, 7) Further, we learn that, though in this solemn time evil will come to a head, yet the world will not be left without a witness to God. There will be a world-wide proclamation of “the everlasting gospel.” It will be preached “to those settled on the earth” (N. Tr.) – that special class who throw off all fear of God and seek their all in this world. It will also be proclaimed “to every nation, and tribe, and tongue, and people.” From the beginning of history until the end, there is only one way of salvation for fallen man – through the blood of Christ, for there is none other name under heaven given amongst men whereby they can be saved. This good news is truly then the “everlasting gospel,” that is proclaimed to all. But if the gospel that brings salvation to man is ever the same, the end in view may vary at different times. Today, the gospel of the grace of God has in view the calling out of a people from this world for heavenly blessing. The gospel preached in the coming day will be to secure a people for Christ’s earthly kingdom. Moreover, when the world has fallen under the fear of wicked men, and will worship the beast, men will be warned to “Fear God,” and to “give glory to Him,” and “worship Him who has made the heaven and the earth and the sea and the fountains of waters.” Further, men will be warned that “the hour of His judgment is come.” It will be a gospel of blessing with warnings of imminent judgment.
(V. 8) Then we learn that during these solemn days, great Babylon will fall. This false system which for long ages, while making a profession of Christianity, has in reality corrupted all nations, will not only come under the judgment of God, but will fall before men, for, as we read a little later, the nations, under the leading of the beast shall destroy this false system (Rev 17:15-18).
(Vv. 9-12) It becomes clear that in these solemn times there will be the followers of the beast with his mark upon them (Rev 13:15-18) and the followers of the Lamb with His mark in their foreheads. There will be the proclamation of the beast telling all that dwell on the earth to worship the image of the beast; and there will be the everlasting gospel telling men to fear God, the Creator and Judge. There will be the decree of the beast that none can buy or sell without the mark of the beast. There will also be the warning of God that everlasting torment will be the portion of those who receive the mark of the beast. As it has been said, “The choice must now be made between God and Satan, between Christ and Antichrist, between the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error: and that choice once made is final and irrevocable, the results eternal and unalterable.” To refuse the mark of the beast, to obey God, and be true to Jesus, will call forth the endurance of the saints.
(V. 13) The endurance of those who refuse the mark of the beast, and obey God, and remain steadfast in their faith in Jesus, may indeed lead, in many cases, to a martyr’s death. Such might fear that they will miss the blessings of the kingdom, but they will be encouraged with the assurance that, so far from missing blessing, they will receive a special blessing, for the word to such is, “Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord henceforth.” They will rest from their labours, and have their reward, for their works do follow them.
(Vv. 14-20) In the two closing scenes of the chapter we have, firstly, a vision of the Son of Man reaping the harvest of the earth, and, secondly, the vine of the earth cast into the great winepress of the wrath of God. Do not these two visions set forth in symbolic language that these solemn days will end in those who have “the faith of Jesus” being gathered together for millennial blessing, while the wicked, likened to the grapes of a winepress come under overwhelming judgment, as set forth by being trodden under foot without the city?
To sum up the instruction of this deeply important chapter, which unfolds the dealings of God in the closing years of this age, we see:
Firstly, there will be a godly remnant of the Jews associated with Christ, following Christ, and preserved for kingdom blessing (1-5).
Secondly, a gospel testimony, with warnings of imminent judgment will be proclaimed to all nations (6-7).
Thirdly, corrupt Christendom, under the figure of that great city Babylon, will fall and come to its end (8).
Fourthly, the worshippers of the beast will come under eternal judgment (9-12).
Fifthly, true believers who in this terrible time are faithful unto death will have their reward (13).
Sixthly, all the people of God – those who by grace have accepted the “everlasting gospel” – will form a rich harvest for God (14-16).
Seventhly, those who have rejected the testimony of God and worshipped the beast will come under the vengeance of God’s wrath (17-20).
Fuente: Smith’s Writings on 24 Books of the Bible
14:1 And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb {1} stood on the mount Sion, and with him {2} an hundred forty [and] four thousand, having his Father’s {3} name written in their foreheads.
(1) The history of the Church of Christ being finished for more than a 1300 years at which time Boniface the eighth lived as has been said: there remains the rest of the history of the conflicting or militant church, from there to the time of the last victory in three chapters. For first of all, as the foundation of the whole history, is described the standing of the Lamb with his army and retinue in five verses, after his worthy acts which he has done and yet does in most mighty manner, while he overthrows Antichrist with the spirit of his mouth, in the rest of this chapter and in the two following. To the description of the Lamb, are propounded three things: his situation, place and attendance: for the rest are expounded in the former visions, especially in the fifth chapter.
(2) Prepared to do his office see Act 7:56 , in the midst of the church, which mount Zion pictured before.
(3) This retinue of the Lamb is described first by divine mark
(as before in) Rev 7:2 in this verse. Then by divine occupation, in that every one in his retinue most earnestly and sweetly Rev 14:2 glorify the Lamb with a special song before God and his elect angels. Flesh and blood cannot hear this song, nor understand, Rev 14:3 . Lastly by their deeds done before, and their sanctification in that they were virgins, pure from spiritual and bodily fornication, that is, from impiety and unrighteousness. They followed the Lamb as a guide to all goodness, cleaved to him and are holy to him, as by grace redeemed by him. In truth and simplicity of Christ they have exercised all these things, sanctimony of life, the guidance of the Lamb, a thankful remembrance of redemption by him and finally (to conclude in a word) they are blameless before the Lord, Rev 14:4-5 .
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The triumph of the 144,000 14:1-5
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
"And I looked" (Gr. kai eidon) introduces three scenes in chapter 14 (Rev 14:1; Rev 14:6; Rev 14:14), as this phrase did twice in chapter 13 (Rev 14:1; Rev 14:11). "Behold" (Gr. idou, cf. Rev 14:14) calls special attention to the greatness of the sight that John saw here.
John saw in this scene the time yet future at the end of the Great Tribulation when Jesus Christ will return to the earth. His second coming does not take place here but in Rev 19:11-21. John only saw it as happening in his vision here. He saw the Lamb standing on earth, specifically on Mt. Zion, with the 144,000 Jewish witnesses that God had sealed for the Tribulation (Rev 7:3; cf. Zec 14:4-5). The contrast of the gentle Lamb standing and the fierce dragon pursuing (Rev 12:13-17) and the evil beasts arising (Rev 13:1; Rev 13:11) is particularly striking. An interesting detail is that John saw the beast standing on sand (Rev 13:1) but the Lamb standing on rock (Rev 14:1; cf. Mat 7:24-27).
Many dispensationalists take Mt. Zion to refer to earthly Jerusalem, but some dispensationalists take it (cf. Rev 11:1; Rev 11:18; Rev 12:5) to refer to the heavenly Jerusalem (cf. Heb 12:22). [Note: E.g., Ryrie, p. 88; Smith, A Revelation . . ., p. 208; and Wiersbe, 2:607.] Most covenant theologians also take it as the New Jerusalem that God will bring down to earth from heaven (Rev 21:1 to Rev 22:5). [Note: E.g., Ladd, pp. 189-90; Mounce, p. 267; and Beale, p. 735.]
"To interpret this as a heavenly city . . . involves numerous problems . . . . If this group is the same as the 144,000 of chapter 7, they are specifically said to be sealed and kept safely through the tribulation. In this case, they move on into the millennial earth without going to the third heaven [God’s abode], since this is the meaning of the seal (cf. Rev 7:3)." [Note: Walvoord, The Revelation . . ., p. 214.]
Others take Mt. Zion as a figure for strength (cf. Psa 2:6; Psa 48:2; Psa 78:68; Psa 87:2; Psa 125:1; Isa 28:16; Isa 59:20; Oba 1:17; Oba 1:21; Mic 4:7). [Note: Swete, p. 177.] However Zion, as that name occurs elsewhere in Scripture, usually refers to earthly Jerusalem (cf. 2Sa 5:7; Psa 48:1-2; Isa 2:3; Isa 24:23; Joe 2:32; Oba 1:17; Oba 1:21; Mic 4:1-2; Mic 4:7; Zec 14:10). [Note: See Newell, p. 209; and McGee, 5:1006.] I think it probably does here too.
"Further, the argument that the 144,000 must be in heaven as they hear the song before the throne may be disputed. There is no statement to the effect that they hear the song, only the declaration that they alone can learn it [Rev 14:3]." [Note: Walvoord, The Revelation . . ., p. 214.]
Apparently their sealing (Rev 7:3) protects them from God’s wrath but not from the wrath of the dragon and the beasts (cf. Rev 12:12; Rev 12:17). Some of them will evidently die as martyrs (Rev 13:15). [Note: Thomas, Revelation 8-22, pp. 192, 194. ] Many interpreters believe that none of the 144,000 will die during the Great Tribulation. [Note: E.g., Walvoord, The Revelation . . ., p. 216.] The seal is the earnest of their ultimate victory (cf. Rev 22:4).
"The Divine name on the forehead suggests at once the imparting of a character which corresponds with the Mind of God, and the consecration of life to His service." [Note: Swete, p. 177.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
CHAPTER XI
THE LAMB ON THE MOUNT ZION AND THE HARVEST AND VINTAGE OF THE WORLD.
Rev 14:1-20.
THE twelfth and thirteenth chapters of this book were designed to set before us a picture of the three great enemies of the Church of Christ. We have been told of the dragon, the principle and root of all the evil, whether inward or outward, from which that Church suffers. He is the first enemy. We have been further told of the first beast, of that power or prince of the world to whom the dragon has committed his authority. He is the second enemy. Lastly, we have been told of that false spirit of religion which unites itself to the world, and which, even more opposed than the world itself to the unworldly spirit of Christianity, makes the relation of Gods children to the world worse than it might otherwise have been. The picture thus presented is in the highest degree fitted to depress and to discourage. The thought more especially of faithlessness in the Church fills the heart with sorrow. The saddest feature in the sufferings of Jesus was that He was “wounded in the house of His friends;” and there is a greater than ordinary depth of pathos in the words with which the beloved disciple draws to a close his record of his Masters struggle with the Jews: “These things spake Jesus; and He departed, and was hidden from them. But though He had done so many signs before them, yet they believed not on Him: that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed?”* (* Joh 12:36-38)
Even then, however, it was not wholly darkness and defeat, for the Evangelist immediately adds, “Nevertheless even of the rulers many believed on Him;” and he closes the struggle with the words of calm self-confidence on the part of Jesus, “The things therefore which I speak, even as the Father hath said unto Me, so I speak.”* Thus also is it here, and we pass from the dark spectacle on which our eyes have rested to a scene of heavenly light, and beauty, and repose. The reader may indeed at first imagine that the symmetry of structure which has been pointed out as a characteristic of the Apocalypse is not preserved by the arrangement of its parts in the present instance. We are about to meet in the following chapter the third and last series of plagues; and we might perhaps expect that the consolatory visions contained in this chapter ought to have found a place between the sixth and seventh Bowls, just as the consolatory visions of chap. 7 and of chaps. 10 and 11 found their place between the sixth and seventh Seals and the sixth and seventh Trumpets. Instead of this the seventh Bowl, at Rev 15:17, immediately follows the sixth, at Rev 15:12 of the same chapter; and the visions of encouragement contained in the chapter before us precede all the Bowls. The explanation may be that the Bowls are the last and highest series of judgments, and that when they begin there can be no more pause. One plague must rush upon another till the end is reached. The final judgments brook neither interruption nor delay. (* Joh 12:42:50)
In this spirit we turn to the first vision of chap. 14:
“And I saw, and, behold, the Lamb standing on the mount Zion, and with Him a hundred and forty and four thousand, having His name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and the voice which I heard was as the voice of harpers harping with their harps: and they sang as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four living creatures, and the elders: and no man could learn the song save the hundred and forty and four thousand, even they that had been purchased out of the earth. These are they which were not denied with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. These were purchased from among men, a first-fruits unto God and unto the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no lie; they are without blemish (Rev 14:1-5).”
The scene of the vision is “the mount Zion,” that Zion so often spoken of both in the Old and in the New Testament as Gods peculiar seat, and in the eyes of Israel famous for the beauty of its morning dews.1 It is the Zion in which God “dwells,”2 the mount Zion Which He “loved,”3 and “out of which salvation comes.”4 It is that “holy hill of Zion” upon which God set the Son as King when He said to Him, “Thou art My Son; this day have I begotten Thee.”5 It is that Zion, too, to which “the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing; and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads.”6 Finally, it is that home of which the sacred writer, writing to the Hebrews, says, “Ye are come unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable hosts of angels, to the general assembly and Church of the first-born, who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator of a new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speak eth better than that of Abel.”7 Upon this mount Zion the Lamb – that is, the crucified and risen Lamb of chap. 5 – stands, firm, self-possessed, and calm. (1 Psa 133:3; 2 Psa 9:11; 3 Psa 78:68; 4 Psa 14:7; 5 Psa 2:6-7; 6 Isa 35:10; 7 Heb 12:22-24)
There is more, however, than outward beauty or sacred memories to mark the scene to which we are introduced. Mount Zion may be “beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King.”* But there is music for the ear as well as beauty for the eye. The mount resounds with song, rich and full of meaning to those who can understand it. A voice is heard from heaven which seems to be distinguished from the voice of the hundred and forty and four thousand to be immediately spoken of. We are not told from whom it comes; but it is there, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder, and as the voice of harpers harping with their harps. Majesty and sweetness mark it. It is the music that is ever in Gods presence, not the music of angels only, or glorified saints, or a redeemed creation. More probably it is that of all of them together. And the song which they sing is new, like that of Rev 5:9, which is sung by “the four living creatures and the four-and-twenty elders, who have each one a harp, and golden bowls of incense, which are the prayers of the Saints.” That song the Church on earth understands, and she alone can understand. It spoke of truths which the redeemed alone could appreciate, and of joys which they alone could value. There is a communion of saints, of all saints on earth and of all who fill the courts of the Lords house on high. Even now the Church can listen with ravished ear to songs which she shall hereafter join in singing. (* Psa 48:2)
Standing beside the Lamb upon Mount Zion, there are a hundred and forty and four thousand, having the Lambs name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads, in token of their priestly state. We cannot avoid asking, Are these the same hundred and forty and four thousand of whom we have read in chap. 7 as sealed upon their foreheads, or are they different? The natural inference is that they are the same. To use such a peculiar number of two different portions of the Church of God would lead to a confusion inconsistent with the usually plain and direct, even though mystical, statements of this book. Besides which they have the mark or seal of God in both cases on the same part of their bodies, – the forehead. It is true that the definite article is not prefixed to the number; but neither is that article prefixed to the “glassy sea” of Rev 15:1, and yet no one doubts that this is the same “glassy sea” as that of chap. 4. Besides which the absence of the article may be accounted for by the fact that the reference is not directly to the hundred and forty and four thousand of Rev 7:4, but to the innumerable multitude of Rev 7:9.* We have already seen, however, that these two companies are the same, although the persons composing them are viewed in different lights; and the hundred and forty and four thousand here correspond, not to the first, but to the second, company. They are in full possession of their Christian privileges and joys. They are not “in heaven,” in the ordinary meaning of that term. They are on earth. But the two companies formerly mentioned meet in them. They are both sealed, and in the presence of the Lamb. (* Comp. Lee in Speakers Commentary in loc. The distinction between the two references is there wrongly given.)
The character of the hundred and forty and four thousand next claims our thoughts.
1. They were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. The words cannot be literally understood, but must be taken in the sense of similar words of the Apostle Paul, when, writing to the Corinthians, he says, “For I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy: for I espoused you to one Husband, that I might present you as a pure virgin to Christ.”l Such “a pure virgin” were the hundred and forty and four thousand now standing upon the mount Zion. They had renounced all that unfaithfulness to God and to Divine truth which is so often spoken of in the Old Testament as spiritual fornication or adultery. They had renounced all sin. In the language of St. John in his first Epistle, they had “the true God, and eternal life.” They had “guarded themselves from idols.”2 (1 2Co 11:2; 2 1Jn 5:20-21)
2. They follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. They shrink from no part of the Redeemers life whether on earth or in heaven. They follow Him in His humiliation, labours, sufferings, death, resurrection, and ascension. They obey the command “Follow thou Me”* in prosperity or adversity, in joy or sorrow, in persecution or triumph. Wherever their Lord is they also are, one with Him, members of His Body and partakers of His Spirit. (* Joh 21:22)
3. They are purchased from among men, a first-fruits unto God and unto the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no lie; they are without blemish. Upon the fact that they are “purchased” it is unnecessary to dwell. We have already met with the expression in Rev 5:9, in one of the triumphant songs of the redeemed. Nor does it seem needful to speak of the moral qualifications here enumerated, further than to observe that in other parts of this book the “lie” is expressly said to exclude from the new Jerusalem, and to be a mark of those upon whom the door is shut,1 while the epithet “without blemish” is elsewhere, on more than one occasion, applied to our Lord.2 (1 Rev 21:27; Rev 22:15; 2 Heb 9:14; 1Pe 1:19)
The appellation “a first-fruits” demands more notice. The figure is drawn from the well-known offering of “first-fruits” under the Jewish law, in which the first portion of any harvest was dedicated to God, in token that the whole belonged to Him, and was recognized as His. Hence it always implies that something of the same kind will follow it, and in this sense it is often used in the New Testament: “If the first-fruit is holy, so is the lump; ” “Epaenetus, who is the first-fruits of Asia unto Christ;” “Now hath Christ been raised from the dead, the first-fruits of them that are asleep;” Ye know the house of Stephanas, that it is the first-fruits of Achaia.”1 In like manner the mention of the hundred and forty and four thousand as “first-fruits” suggests the thought of something to follow. What that is it is more difficult to say. It can hardly be other Christians belonging to a later age of the Churchs history upon earth, for the end is come. It can hardly be Christians who have done or suffered more than other members of the Christian family, for in St. Johns eyes all Christians are united to Christ, alike in work and martyrdom. Only one supposition remains. The hundred and forty and four thousand, as the whole Church of God, are spoken of in the sense in which the same expression is used by the Apostle James: “Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first-fruits of His creatures.”2 Not as the first portion of the Church on earth, to be followed by another portion, but as the first portion of a kingdom of God wider and larger than the Church, are the words to be understood. The whole Church is Gods first-fruits; and when she is laid upon His altar, we have the promise that a time is coming when creation shall follow in her train, when “it shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God,”3 when “the mountains and the hills shall break forth before the Redeemer into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.”4 (1 Rom 11:16; Rom 16:5; 1Co 15:20; 1Co 16:15; 2 Jam 1:18; 3 Rom 8:21; 4 Isa 55:12)
Why shall nature thus rejoice before the Lord? Let the Psalmist answer: “For He cometh, for He cometh to judge the earth: He shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with His truth.”* This thought may introduce us to the next portion of the chapter: (* Psa 96:13) –
“And I saw another angel flying in mid-heaven, having an eternal gospel to proclaim over them that sit on the earth, and over every nation, and tribe, and tongue, and people; and he saith with a great voice, Fear God, and give Him glory; for the hour of His judgment Is come: and worship Him that made the heaven, and the earth, and sea, and fountains of waters.
And another, a second angel, followed, saying, Fallen, fallen, is Babylon the great, which hath made all the nations to drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
And another angel, a third, followed them, spying with a great voice, If any man worshippeth the beast and his image, and receiveth a mark on his forehead, or upon his hand, he also shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mingled unmixed in the cup of His anger; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: and the smoke of their torment goeth up unto ages of ages: and they have no rest day and night, they that worship the beast and his image, and whoso receiveth the mark of his name. Here is the patience of the saints, they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. And I heard a voice from heaven saying, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their toils; for their works follow with them.
And I saw, and behold a white cloud, and on the cloud I saw One sitting like unto a Son of man, having on His head a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle.
And another angel came out from the temple, crying with a great voice to Him that sat on the cloud, Send forth Thy sickle, and reap: for the hour to reap is come; for the harvest of the earth is fully ripe. And He that sat on the cloud cast His sickle upon the earth; and the earth was reaped.
And another angel came out from the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle.
And another angel came out from the altar, he that hath power over fire; and he called with a great voice to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Send forth thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her bunches of grapes are ripe. And the angel cast his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the winepress, the great winepress, of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden without the city, and there came out blood from the winepress, even unto the bridles of the horses, as far as a thousand and six hundred furlongs (Rev 14:6-20).
The first point to be noticed in connection with these verses is their structure, for the structure is of importance to the interpretation. The passage as a whole, it will be easily observed, consists of seven parts, the first three and the last three being introduced by an “angel,” while the central or chief part is occupied with One who, from the description, can be no other than our Lord Himself. In this part it is also obvious that the Lord comes to wind up the history of the world, and to gather in that harvest of His people which is already fully or even overripe. There can be no doubt, therefore, that we are here at the very close of the present dispensation; and, as five out of the six parts which are grouped around the central figure are occupied with judgment on the wicked, the presumption is that the only remaining part, the first of the six, will be occupied with the same topic.
In this first part indeed we read of an eternal gospel proclaimed over them that sit on the earth, and over every nation, and tribe, and tongue, and people; and the first impression made upon us is that we have here a universal and final proclamation of the glad tidings of great joy, in order that the world may yet, at the last moment, repent, believe, and be saved. But such an interpretation, however plausible and generally accepted, must be set aside. The light thrown upon the words by their position in the series of seven parts already spoken of is a powerful argument against it Everything in the passage itself leads to the same conclusion. We do not read, as we ought, were this the meaning, to have read, of “the,” but of “an,” eternal gospel. This gospel is proclaimed, not “unto,” but “over,” those to whom it is addressed. Its hearers do not “dwell,” as in both the Authorized and Revised Versions, but, as in the margin of the latter, “sit,” on the earth, in the sinful world, in the carelessness of pride and self-confident security. Thus the great harlot “sitteth upon many waters;” and thus Babylon says in her heart, “I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall in no wise see mourning.”1 There is no humiliation, no spirit of repentance, no preparation for the Gospel, here; while the mention of the “earth n and the fourfold division of its inhabitants lead us to think of men continuing in their sins, over whom a doom is to be pronounced.2 Still further, the words put into the mouth of him who speaks “with a great voice,” and which appear to contain the substance of the gospel thus proclaimed, have in them no sound of mercy, no story of love, no mention of the name of Jesus. They speak of fearing God and giving glory to Him, as even the lost may do,3 of the hour, not even the “day,” of His judgment; and they describe the rule of the great Creator by bringing together the four things – the heaven, and the earth, and sea, and fountains of waters – upon which judgment has already fallen in the series of the Trumpets, and is yet to fall in that of the Bowls.4 Lastly, the description given of the angel reminds us so much of the description given of the “eagle” in Rev 8:13 as to make it at least probable chat his mission is a similar one of woe. (1 Rev 17:1; Rev 18:7; 2Comp. Rev 11:9; Rev 13:7; 3Comp. Jam 2:19; 4Rev. 8 and 15)
In the light of all these circumstances, we seem compelled to come to the conclusion that the “gospel” referred to is a proclamation of judgment, that it is that side of the Saviours mission in which He appears as the winnowing fan by which His enemies are scattered as the chaff, while His disciples are gathered as the wheat. There is no intimation here, then, of a conversion of the world. The world stands self-convicted before the bar of judgment, to hear its doom.
The cry of the second angel corresponds to that of the first. It proclaims the fall of Babylon and its cause. The deeply interesting questions relating to this city will meet us at a later point. In the meantime it is enough to observe that Babylon is described as fallen. The Judge is not only standing at the door: He has begun His work.
The words of the third angel continue the strain thus begun, and constitute the most terrible picture of the fate of the ungodly to be found in Scripture. The eye shrinks from the spectacle. The heart fails with fear when the words are read. That wine of the wrath of God which is mingled unmixed in the cup of His anger, that wine into which, contrary to the usage of the time, no water, no mitigating element, has been allowed to enter; that torment with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb; that smoke of their torment going up unto ages of ages; that no-rest day and night, of so different a kind from the no-rest of which we have read in Rev 4:8 – all present a picture from which we can hardly do aught else than turn away with trembling. Can this be the Gospel of Jesus, the Lamb of God? Can this be a revelation given to the disciple whom Jesus loved, and who had entered so deeply into his Masters spirit of tenderness and compassion for the sinner?
1. Let us consider that the words are addressed, not directly to sinners, but to the Church of Christ, which is safe from the threatened doom; not to the former that they may be led to repentance, but to the latter that through the thought of what she has escaped he may be filled with eternal gratitude and joy.
2. Let us notice the degree to which sin is her supposed to have developed; that it is not the sin of Mary in the house of Simon, of the penitent thief, of the Phillippian gaoler, or of the publicans and harlots who gathered around our Lord in the days of His flesh to listen to Him, but sin bold, determined, loved, and clung to as the sinners self-chosen good, the sin of sinners who will die for sin as martyrs die for Christ and holiness.
3. Let us observe that, whatever the angel may mean, he certainly does not speak of never-ending existence in never-ending torment, for the words of the original unhappily translated both in the Authorized and Revised Versions “forever and ever” ought properly to be rendered “unto ages of ages;”* and, distinguished as they are on this occasion alone in the Apocalypse from the first of these expressions by the absence of the Greek articles, they ought not to be translated in the same way. (*They are so rendered in the margin of the Revised Version)
4. Let us recall the strong figures of speech in which the inhabitants of the East were wont to give utterance to their feelings, figures illustrated in the present instance by the mention of that “fire and brimstone” which no man will interpret literally, as well as by the language of St. Jude when he describes Sodom and Gomorrah as “an example of eternal fire.”* (* Jud 1:7 {margin of R.V.}).
5. Let us remember that hatred of sin is the correlative of love of goodness, and that the kingdom of God cannot be fully established in the world until sin has been completely banished from it.
6. Above all, let us mark carefully the distinction, so often forced upon us in the writings of St. John, between sinners in the ordinary sense and the system of sin to which other sinners cling in deadliest enmity to God and righteousness; and, as we do all this, the words of the third angel will produce on us another than their first impression. So far as the human being is before us we shall be moved only to com passion and eagerness to save. But his sin, the sin which has mastered the Divinely implanted elements of his nature, which has fouled what God made pure and embittered what God made sweet, the sin which has subjected one created in the nobility of the image of God to the miserable thralldom of the devil, the sin the thought of which we can separate, like the Apostle Paul, from the “I” of mans true nature* – of that sin we can only say, Let the wrath of God be poured out upon it unmingled with mercy; let it be destroyed with a destruction the memory of which shall last “unto ages of ages” and even take its place amidst the verities sustaining the throne of the Eternal and securing the obedience and the happiness of His creatures. If a minister of Christ thinks that he may gather from this passage, or others similar to it, a commission to go to sinners rather than to sin with “tidings of damnation,” he mistakes alike the Master whom he serves and the commission with which he has been entrusted. (* Romans 7)
At this point, after the thought of that spirit of allegiance to the beast which draws down such terrors upon itself, and before we reach the central figure of the whole movement, we have some words of comfort interposed. The meaning of the first part of them is similar to that of Rev 13:10, and need not be further spoken of. The meaning of their second part, conveying to us the contents of the “voice from heaven,” demands a moments notice. Blessed, exclaims the heavenly voice (at the same time prefixing the command Write), are the dead which die in the Lora from henceforth. It is difficult to determine the precise point of time referred to in the word “henceforth.” If it be the moment of the end, the moment of the Second Coming of the Lord, then the promise must express the glory of the resurrection. But, to say nothing of the fact that “resting from labours” is too weak to bring out the glory of the resurrection state, there is at that instant no more time to die in the Lord. The living shall be “changed.” It seems better, therefore, to understand the words as a voice of consolation running throughout the whole Christian age. In the view of “heaven” the lapse of time is hardly thought of. All is Now. The meaning of “dying in the Lord,” again, must not be regarded as equivalent to the Scriptural expression “falling asleep in Jesus.” Not the thought of “falling asleep” in a quiet Christian home, but of “dying” as Jesus died, is in the Seers mind; and not the thought of rest from work, but of rest from toils, an entirely different and far stronger word, is in the answer of the Spirit. Thus are believers blessed. Their life is a life of toil, of hardship, of trial, of persecution, of death; but when they die, they “rest” And their “works” – that is, their Christian character and life – are not lost. They follow with them, and meet them again in the heavenly mansions as the record of all that they have done and suffered in their Masters cause.
The first three angels have accomplished their task. We now reach the fourth and chief member in this series of seven, and meet with the Lord as He comes to take His people to Himself, that where He is, there they may also be. That it is the Lord who is here before us we cannot for a moment doubt. The designation like unto a Son of man, the same as that of Rev 1:13, itself establishes the fact, which is again confirmed by the mention of the white cloud and of the golden crown. In His hand He holds a sharp sickle, with which to reap. Thus also in different passages of the New Testament our Lord speaks of the harvest of His people, although in them He acts by His angels and Apostles.1 In one passage of the Gospel of St. John He acts by Himself.2 The glorified Redeemer is thus ready to complete His work. (1 Mat 9:37-38; Mat 13:29-30; 2 Joh 14:3)
Another angel now appears, the first of the second series of three, and styled “another,” not by comparison with Him who sat on the white cloud, and who is exalted far above all angels, but by comparison with the angels previously spoken of at the sixth, eighth, and ninth verses of the chapter. This angel is said to come out from the temple – that is, out of the naos, out of the innermost shrine of the temple – and the notice is important, for it shows that he comes from the immediate presence of God, and is a messenger from Him. Therefore it is that he can say to the Son, Send forth Thy sickle, and reap. “The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He seeth the Father doing.”1 Until the Father gives the sign His “hour is not yet come;” and more especially of the hour now arrived Jesus had Himself said, “But of that day or that hour knoweth no one, not even the angels in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.”2 The day, the hour, the moment, has now arrived; and, as usual in this book, the message of the Father is communicated by an angel. The intimation that the hour is come is grounded upon the fact that the harvest about to be gathered in is fully ripe. The Revised Version translates “overripe;” but the translation, though literal, is unhappy, and so far false as it unquestionably suggests a false idea. Gods time for working is always right, not wrong; and it is perfectly legitimate to understand the word of the original as meaning simply dry, hard, the soft juices of its ripening state absorbed, and the time of its firmness come.3 Thus summoned by the message of the Father to the work, the Son enters upon it without delay. “As He hears, He judges.”4 He that sat on the cloud cast His sickle upon the earth; and the earth was reaped. (1 Joh 5:19; 2 Mar 13:32; 3Comp. the “dried up” of the margin of the Revised Version; 4 Joh 5:30)
The second angel of the second group of three next appears, having, like Him that sat upon the cloud, “a sharp sickle;” and he too waits for the summons to use it.
This summons is given by the third angel of the second group, of whom it is said that he came out from the altar, he that hath power over fire. The altar of this verse must be that already spoken of in Rev 8:3, where we were told that “another angel came and stood over the altar, having a golden censer,” an altar which we have been led to identify with the brazen altar of Rev 5:9, beneath which were found the souls of the Old Testament saints; and the “fire” over which this angel has power must be the “fire” of Rev 8:5, the fire taken from that altar to kindle the incense of the prayers of the saints. The angel is thus a messenger of judgment, about to command a final and full answer to be given to the prayer that the Almighty will finish His work and vindicate His cause. To this character, accordingly, his message corresponds, for he called with a great voice to him (that is, to the second angel) that had the sharp sickle, saying, Send forth thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her bunches of grapes are ripe. A vintage, not a harvest of grain, is here before us; and it is impossible to doubt that it is the purpose of the Seer to draw a broad line of distinction between the two. The latter is the harvest of the good; the former is the vintage of the evil: and the propriety of the figure thus used for the evil is easily perceived when we remember that grapes were gathered to be trodden in the winefat, and that the juice when trodden out had the colour of blood. The figure was indeed one already familiar to the prophets: “Let the nations bestir themselves, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat” (that is, The Lord judges): “for there will I sit to judge all the nations round about. Put ye in the sickle, for the vintage is ripe: come, tread ye; for the winepress is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great;”1 “Wherefore art Thou red in Thine apparel, and Thy garments like him that treadeth in the winefat? I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was no man with Me: yea, I trod them in Mine anger, and trampled them in My fury; and their life-blood is sprinkled upon My garments, and I have stained all My raiment. For the day of vengeance is in Mine heart, and My year of redemption is come.”2 The figure is here employed in a similar manner, for the angel gathered the vine (not “the vintage,” the whole vine being plucked up by the roots) of the earth, and cast it into the winepress, the great wine press, of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden without the city, and there came out blood from the winepress, even unto the bridles of the horses, as far as a thousand and six hundred furlongs. In these words we have undoubtedly the judgment of the wicked, and the last portion of them alone need detain us for a moment. (1 Joe 3:12-13; 2 Isa 63:2-4)
1. What is meant by the statement that the sea of blood thus created by the slaughter spoken of reached “even unto the bridles of the horses “? The horses are those of Rev 19:11-16, where we have again a description of the final victory of Christ over all His enemies, and where it is again said of Him that “He treadeth the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God.”1 The same winepress which meets us here meets us there. The battle and the victory are the same; and the horses here are therefore those upon which He that is called Faithful and True, together with His armies that are in heaven, rides forth to conquest The mention of “the bridles” of the horses is more uncertain and more difficult to explain, but one passage of the Old Testament helps us. In speaking of the glories of the latter day, the prophet Zechariah says, “In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses (the bells strung along the bridles) HOLY UNTO THE LORD.”2 The sea of blood reached to, but could not be allowed to touch, these sacred words. (1 Rev 19:15; 2 Zec 14:20)
2. What is meant by the space of “a thousand and six hundred furlongs,” over which the sea extended? To resolve it simply into a large space is at variance with the spirit of the Apocalypse; and to imagine that it marks the extent of the Holy Land from Dan to Beer-sheba is both to introduce an incorrect calculation and to forget who constitute the hosts of wickedness that had been engaged in the battle: These were not the inhabitants of Palestine only, but of “the earth,” three times mentioned in the description. They were “all the nations” spoken of by the second angel of the first group, all that worship the beast and his image and receive a mark on their forehead or their hand, referred to by the third angel of the same group. They are thus the wicked gathered from every corner of the earth. With this idea the figures 1,600 agree – four, the number of the world, multiplied by itself to express intensity, and then by a hundred, the number so often associated with evil in this book. Whether “furlongs,” literally “stadia,” are chosen as the measure of space because, as suggested by Cornelius a Lapide, the arena or circus in which the martyrs suffered was called “The Stadium,”* it may be vain to conjecture. Enough that the sixteen hundred furlongs represent the whole surface of the earth upon which the wicked “sit” at ease, the universal efficacy of the sickle by which they are gathered to their doom. (*Comp. 1Co 9:24)
One other point ought to be more particularly noticed before we close the consideration of this chapter. The harvest of the good is gathered in by the Lord Himself, that of the wicked by His angel. The same lesson appears to be read in the parables of the tares and of the drawnet. In the former (although allusions in each parable may seem to imply that angels take part in both acts) it is said that “at the end of the world the Son of man shall send forth His angels, and they shall gather out of His kingdom all things that cause stumbling, and them that do iniquity.”l In the latter we read, “So shall it be in the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the righteous, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire.”2 In like manner here. The Son of man Himself gathers His own to their eternal rest. It is an angel, though commissioned by Him, who gathers the wicked to their fate. “And is there not a beauty and tenderness in this contrast? It is as though that Son of man and Son of God who is the Judge of quick and dead, the Judge alike of the righteous and of the wicked, loved one half of His office, and loved not the other. It is as though He cherished as His own prerogative the harvest of the earth, and were glad to delegate to other hands the vintage. It is as though the ministry of mercy were His chosen office, and the ministry of wrath His stern necessity. One like unto the Son of man puts forth the sickle of the ingathering; one of created, though it be of angelic, nature is employed to send forth the sickle of destruction.”3 (1 Mat 13:41; 2 Mat 13:49-50; 2Vaughan u. s., p. 378)