Once
the Christians and non-believers alike take in the intoxication and
wicked influence, it removes all
desire to resist Babylon’s destructive influence and therefor binds and blinds
one to Babylon’s own ultimate insecurity and to God as the source of real
security. People will then become spiritually deadened and numbed against any
fear of a coming judgment…and that is the trap. The immediate gratification and
pleasure from sin will make the one who imbibes of it blind to the eventual
destruction that this type of path of wickedness paves the way for. The third
angel appears in the vision. Like the first two, he also announces judgment. He
declares that if people give ultimate allegiance to the beast, they will suffer
a fate much worse than death. In (v.10) we see the consequence of beast worship.
Those who express greater devotion to the beast than to Christ in order to
maintain economic security will be punished severely.
“…they, too, will drink the wine of
God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. They
will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of
the Lamb. Revelation 14:10
The
phrase, “into the cup of his wrath,” reiterates the preceding “he will drink from
the wine of the wrath of God” to emphasize the definitiveness and severity of
the last. Those who have denied the Lamb will be forced to acknowledge him as
they are being punished. Regardless of what Universalists or people like Rob
Bell have told easily misled Christians of eternal punishment, there are
powerful statements being made in the next few verses. In (v. 10–11) the idea
of eternal punishment cannot and should not be diluted by affirming that the
imagery of the verses have only
a rhetorical function of warning, and does not convey any doctrinal idea of a future state of
punishment. That eventually through Jesus’ love all are saved because “love
wins”. Love that does not tell the truth and promote the idea of perfect justice
through God’s judgment is not justice at all. God judging all in the end and
sending some to Hell is God’s eventual answer the suffering of things like
wars, genocide and wicked sinful behavior in general. Without the prospect of
eternal permanent judgement on the wicked, the scales of justice just do not
balance out. On the final day of the Lord, the scale so justice will be
balanced and all with get their just due, both believer and non-believer alike.
All will be judged and they will either found wanting and condemned or found
righteous in Christ and saved to eternal life in the presence of Christ Jesus.
Therefore we see an exhortation in verse 12 to true saints to persevere through
this temporary suffering in this earthly life. A suffering and persecution
inflicted on them because of their loyalty to Christ, so that they might avoid
the eternal consequences of loyalty to the beast and receive an eternal reward
(v 13). If Christians remain loyal to the Lamb, they will suffer now
in the present, but afterward will gain a reward of eternal rest in Christ. Just
as Christ was rewarded after death for his endurance, and so will Christians,
since Christ is their representative
“I looked, and there before me was a
white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one like a son of man with a crown of
gold on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. Then another angel came out of
the temple and called in a loud voice to him who was sitting on the cloud,
“Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest
of the earth is ripe.” So he who was
seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was
harvested. Another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a
sharp sickle. Still another angel, who had charge of the fire, came from the
altar and called in a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, “Take your
sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the earth’s vine, because
its grapes are ripe.” The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its
grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath. They were
trampled in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed out of the press,
rising as high as the horses’ bridles for a distance of 1,600 stadia”. Revelation
14:14-20
This
heavenly figure “has a golden crown on his head”. The crown identifies him as
king over his people, who rule with him and also wear “golden crowns”. His
crown also evokes kingship over his
enemies (19:12). The “sharp sickle” is a metaphor of judgment. Including the Son of man, there are seven
heavenly beings in 14:6–20. Furthermore, the coming of the Son of man on clouds
in the Synoptic eschatological discourses and elsewhere is always Christ
(Matthew 24:30; Mark 13:26; Luke 21:27). In verse 15-16 “Another angel” now
appears and issues a command to the Son of man. The angel’s command could
suggest that he has authority over the Son of man, who is therefore subordinate
to the angel. This would clearly be a functional subordination to God is in mind
since this angel conveys a divine message from God’s throne room itself. Christ
must be informed by God about the time for judgment to begin, since “of that
day or that hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but
only the Father” Mark 13:32.
The Son of man’s judgment is described through a metaphor
of gathering in a harvest. He is commanded to harvest “because the harvest of
the earth has become ripe.” Just as God determines harvest time each year, so
God has determined the time when the end of the age will have been reached and
when judgment must begin because the sins of humanity have reached their full
measure and tipped against them. So the heavenly comes forth with a sharp
sickle to harvest the earth. The presence of the Son of man in the first
segment and the grisly image of trampling grapes in the second are taken respectively
as suggesting redemptive and judicial imagery and/or a dual harvest is also
supported by the dual aspect of the harvest in Jesus’ teachings, which may
stand partly in the background of Matthew 3:12; 13:24–30 and Mark 4:26–29. The
Synoptic Gospel parallel in Mark 4:26–29 stands closest to Revelation 14
although Mark does not explicitly mention the gathering of believers, though
that may be implied.
The
mention of “first fruits” in Revelation 14:4 could also anticipate an idea that
more elect people will be gathered in later, namely in verse 15 and 16. Interestingly,
“first fruits” and “harvest” are directly associated with each other in a
positive manner in Old Testament offering passages (Exodus 23:16; 34:22;
Numbers 18:12 and Jeremiah 2:3.
Of
course it might just be possible that that the two accounts in Revelation
14:14–16 and Revelation 14:17–20 are describing precisely the same act of judgment
since the images are exactly the same.
- “another angel” comes “out of the temple” or “out from the altar” commands “in a great voice” another heavenly figure to “put in your sickle” and reap
- “because” the harvest is “ripe.”
- The commanding angel of v 18 is associated with a decree of judgment. This suggests that the angel of v 15 is also a messenger of judgment.
- Whenever commands are issued from the heavenly temple or altar, they are always declarations of judgment.
- Both are dependent on Joel 4:13 for the harvest imagery reinforces this conclusion, since the Joel passage contains only the thought of judgment and is the only Old Testament passage where harvesting with a “sickle” is spoken of figuratively, just as it is in Revelation 14.
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