Chapter Fourteen
The Seven Vials: Preparation for the seven vials
14:1 And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the
The Lamb, which we have now seen many times, is Christ. The Lamb
stood upon
Christ had with Him a
large group of 144,000 people. In
chapter seven we likewise saw this 144,000 and found that they represented the
Church in its infancy,
when it was composed only of Jews. They had the
name of God “written in their foreheads.” We have seen this expression several times
already. We even saw it in the last
chapter referring to those who had the mark of the beast in their foreheads. All this means is that they served God with
their minds. They had made a conscious
choice to obey God and to turn away from sin.
Chapter thirteen described to us the rise of two evil beasts that are the work
of Satan. Chapter fourteen now gives us
a picture of Christ and His Church standing in the
City of the Kings. Since the Church was
composed only of Jews at the time
spoken of here, we know that it was in its infancy. So we are in essence seeing the Church rise
out of
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:
John now hears a
voice, but he does not identify the speaker.
He does tell us that the voice had the character of many waters and thunder. We have seen both of these descriptions used
before. We have said previously that
these voices do not actually sound like water and thunder, but John is merely
alluding to the strength and power of the voices by comparing them to these two
phenomena. Christ’s voice was likened to many waters in chapter one. In chapter four it was said that “thundering
and voices” proceeded from the throne of God. And in chapter six the voice of one of the
four beasts was likened to thunder.
Since we are not given any clue as to what was said we must conclude the
message itself is not important to us here.
It was not what was said that was significant to us, merely the fact
that something was said. Since we are
dealing with the establishment of the Church here, it is
safe to assume that this voice had something to do with that. In the account of the creation in Genesis
chapter one, we continually find the statement “God said.” John chapter one
tells us that Christ is the Word of
God. Therefore, when God speaks Christ
is involved, since He is the Word. This
is part of the mystery of the Godhead. You could put
it this way, God thinks it, Christ says it, and the Holy Spirit carries it out. Here in our present case we find a voice
speaking at the same time Christ was active in the establishment of His Church. Therefore, it seems reasonable that this is
the voice of God showing the activity of Christ, the living Word of God. In addition to the thunderous voice, John
also heard harpers playing. This
represents the heavenly host’s joy and celebration over the salvation of man,
through the sacrifice of Christ.
14:3 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.
John now sees the
multitude of 144,000 singing a song of praise to God. That it was a song of praise to God is
implied in the statement “before the throne, and before the four beasts, and
the elders.” In Heaven man is to
praise God continually. “Therefore
are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his
temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them” (Revelation
“No man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand.” This is not because the song was too hard, or
that it was sung in some strange language.
What this really means is that only the Jews were included
in this 144,000 and no one else was allowed to join them for the present time. We are looking here at the beginning of the
Church before the
Gospel was given to the Gentiles; this was the first three and one-half years. The Jews enjoyed a very
unique relationship with God, and no Gentile could rightly lay claim to it. Only the Jews could sing of
their salvation through Christ at this time. Verse six will show us the inclusion of the
Gentiles into the Church.
Someone might object and say that certainly there had to be at least a few
Gentiles in the Church during the
first three and one-half years. And you
could make a very reasonable argument for this to be the case. Wouldn’t it be plausible to assume that
somewhere, a Jew had a Gentile friend who was converted before Cornelius? Unfortunately, assumptions are just that,
assumptions, unless we can back them up.
And all the evidence lends credence to the notion that not even a single
Gentile became a member of the Lord’s Church during the first three and
one-half years.
The idea of the three and one-half year period comes from prophesies of Daniel
concerning Christ. “And after
threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the
people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary;
and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are
determined. And he shall confirm the
covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause
the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of
abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that
determined shall be poured upon the desolate” (Daniel 9:26-27).
The seven days of this week, in real time seven years, were in effect a
missionary period for God among the Jews. This is what
Daniel was referring to when he said, “he shall confirm the covenant with
many for one week.” This week began
with the ministry of Christ; for three and one-half years Christ preached and
taught among the Jewish people. Then,
His ministry concluded, He was crucified on the cross. This is when the Messiah was “cut off.” He was cut off in the middle of this period
as is shown by this phrase, “in the midst of the week he shall cause the
sacrifice and the oblation to cease.”
The sacrifice and oblation has reference to the offerings under the Old
Law. When Christ died on the cross He
fulfilled the Old Law and thereafter it was no longer in effect and the offerings
which were part of it were no longer accepted by God..
When Jesus died the veil
in the
Daniel told us that the covenant was to be confirmed with man for one week. Christ was crucified
in the middle of this week, and for the remaining three and one-half years the
apostles continued the work by carrying the gospel to the Jews. It is very
easy to see from the conversion of Cornelius that the apostles did not
recognize the Gentiles as being fit for membership in the Lord’s Church. Peter said to
Cornelius, “Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew
to keep company, or come unto one of another nation; but God hath shewed me
that I should not call any man common or unclean. Therefore came I unto you without gainsaying,
as soon as I was sent for: I ask therefore for what intent ye have sent for me?”
(Acts 10:28-29). Peter was convinced by
a vision given him of God that the Gentiles were to be offered the opportunity
for salvation. “Then Peter opened his
mouth, and said, ‘Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:
but in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted
with him.’” (Acts 10:34-35).
Peter, and the Jews who had
accompanied him, were amazed at what happened after the gospel was preached to
Cornelius and his family. “And they
of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter,
because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. For they
heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God.
Then answered Peter, ‘Can any man forbid water, that these should not be
baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?’ And he commanded them to be baptized in the
name of the Lord. Then prayed they him
to tarry certain days” (Acts
Does their reaction suggest any possibility that they have allowed ANY Gentiles
into their fellowship previously? Then
when others heard that Peter had preached the gospel to Gentiles, they
confronted him about what they perceived to be a grievous error. “And the apostles and brethren that were
in
Clearly, the only conclusion we can possibly reach is that not even one single
Gentile became a member of the Church during its
first three and one-half years, until the conversion of Cornelius. Therefore, we have no difficulty saying this 144,000
is comprised entirely of Jews.
14:4 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.
John continues here
to give us the characteristics of the 144,000.
They are said to be virgins, not defiled with women. This is not spoken in the physical, but the
spiritual sense. God has never commanded
physical celibacy for anyone, but has commanded spiritual celibacy for everyone. God spoke of the nation of
“These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth.” Christ said “If ye
love me keep my commandments” (John
“These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to
the Lamb.” These are redeemed
because they have submitted themselves to God’s will and lived lives of
obedience to Him. These people were the “firstfruits”
which means they were the first “fruits” harvested. This is probably the greatest clue that these
144,000 are the Jewish converts to Christianity. They were the first, preceding the rest of
mankind by 3½ years.
14:5 And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault
before the throne of God.
Guile is from the Greek word “dolos”
which Strong’s defines as “a trick (bait), i.e. (figuratively) wile:-craft,
deceit, guile, subtility.”[1] The idea here
is that these people did not speak deceitfully.
This in turn implies purity of heart.
Christ said “For
from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries,
fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit,
lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: all these evil
things come from within, and defile the man” (Mark 7:21-23). This agrees with the statement that they are “without
fault.” The fact that they are “Before
the throne of God” shows their acceptance in Heaven for their
faithful service to God.
14:6 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, and kindred, and tongue, and people,
The first five verses of this chapter have shown us the first three and
one-half of the Church when it was
composed of Jews only. Now we see the “everlasting gospel” is
being taken to the rest of mankind. This
is synonymous with Acts chapter ten when the gospel was first given to the
Gentiles in the person of Cornelius and his household. The fact that an angel brought the gospel
from Heaven shows its
divine origin.
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.
John had been seeing
a vision that showed him the beginning of the Church. Once he has
seen this, the angel tells him something that suddenly brings us back to the
eighteenth century. “The hour of his
judgment is come,” refers to Gods impending judgment of
“Worship
him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.” The angel now exhorts men to worship God,
and then gives a good reason why. He
mentions God’s power in creating the world upon which man lives. This shows man’s dependence on God for His
very survival. It is as the Apostle Paul said, speaking
of God, “For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also
of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also his offspring’” (Acts
14:8 And there followed another angel, saying,
John now sees a
second angel flying through Heaven proclaiming
another message. The subject of this
message is the fall of
At the time the angel is speaking the papacy had not yet fallen. This statement is made just prior to the
beginning of God’s vengeance. This
statement is made in prospect of a foregone conclusion. This is similar to a football game where one
team is winning by thirty points in the third quarter. People will then say “this games already over.” They certainly did not mean it was over in
the sense that the clock had expired, because there was still an entire quarter
to play. But the game was over in the
sense that the final outcome was beyond doubt.
Similarly, the outcome of God’s battle against
“She made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.”
14:9 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,
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; and
he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy
angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
A third angel now delivers another message.
The message is simple, anyone who takes part in the sins of the Roman
Catholic Church will suffer the
effects of God’s wrath which is about to be unleashed. Again the mark in the forehead or hand simply
denotes obedience to the Catholic Church either out of belief of their
doctrines or out of fear of reprisal if you did not cooperate. Either way you have forsaken God if you give
in to the Catholics. All such people
will be subject to the great wrath of God which is about to be unleashed. The “wine of the wrath of God,” unlike
the wine of the wrath of the beast’s fornication, is not meant to deceive. The idea is that the wrath of God will be so
severe that the Catholics will be staggered and amazed by it as if they were
drunk. “Poured out without mixture.” Quite often things are diluted or watered
down before they are used because they would be too overpowering otherwise. But the wrath of God will be poured out full
strength since it is intended to overpower and destroy. This shows the severity of the punishment. God will have no mercy on the papacy since
she has shown no mercy toward His children.
“For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy;
and mercy rejoiceth against judgment” (James
“He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy
angels, and in the presence of the Lamb.”
Those who side with the beast will be punished with fire and brimstone. We normally associate these things with
eternal Hell. In fact, in chapter twenty,
we find the “lake of fire and brimstone” mentioned as the place where
the devil and the beast will be cast. But
this will be at the end of the world and we have not yet reached that point in
our story. Sometimes fire and brimstone
are spoken of without referring to eternal Hell. In Genesis
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.
Continuing the thought of the previous verse, the Catholics will be punished
with “fire and brimstone” which will result in “the smoke of their
torment.” When something is on fire
the smoke rises into the sky for all to see.
Likewise, the world will see the smoke of the beast’s destruction. Chapter eighteen talks extensively about the
world’s reaction to the beast’s demise.
“For ever and ever” shows that their punishment will not be temporary. Once the papacy has fallen she will never recover. “They have no rest day nor night,”
shows us that the great persecutors, the Catholic Church, will become the persecuted. They will learn what it is like to be the
hunted and the harassed. They will
suffer at the hands of God the things they have inflicted upon His people for
over a thousand years.
When the destruction of Spiritual Rome gets under way it will have had power
for 1,260 years. Throughout all of this
time God’s people have had to demonstrate tremendous patience awaiting their
avenging by God. All they can do is
continue to follow the commandments of God and leave everything else up to Him. The statement “here is the patience of the
saints,” refers back to the previous verse.
He has just shown His people the destruction of the papacy, something
they have looked forward to for centuries.
Then in this verse He tells them that it is the payoff for their
patience. They had to wait and endure
many things, but now all will be avenged, and their patience will have been
rewarded.
Here John is told to
write that those who die in the Lord after the fall of spiritual
There is also another way in which Christians who live after the fall of the
papacy can be said to be blessed. There
are two important factors which affect the Church, these are peace and prosperity. Peace means no significant persecution, and
prosperity means the Church is strong and growing. For the first three centuries of its
existence the Church prospered, but had little peace. Then when
Now John looks and sees
someone sitting on a cloud. He says this
person looks like the Son of man, but he does not say it is Him. It is doubtful that this was actually Christ sitting on the
cloud because we will see in the next verse that an angel tells this person to
do something. It does not seem likely
that an angel would be giving instructions to Christ. This person was most likely an angel. The crown suggests the angel possesses power
and authority. The angel also had a
sharp sickle in his hand. A sickle is an
instrument made of a curved metal blade with a wooden handle and is normally
used to harvest grain. When it is swung
the blade will cut the stalks of grain allowing them to be gathered for
threshing. This sickle will be used by
the angel to reap in the next verse.
14:15 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.
Now John sees another
angel come from the temple, which is the dwelling place of God. This angel tells the angel sitting on the
cloud to use his sickle to reap the earth.
The harvest is said to be ripe which means the time to reap has come,
but we are not told what is to be reaped.
Obviously we are not talking about actual grain here, but the earth’s
spiritual harvest of souls. It is very
tempting to form a picture in our minds of the “Grim Reaper” in a black robe
carrying a sharp sickle in his hand coming to do evil to mankind. But we must remember that these are angels doing
the reaping so they will not harm God’s people.
Any destruction wrought by these angels will be directed against the
Roman Catholic powers. Although it might be tempting to say this is
at the end of the world our context will not allow that conclusion. We are at present dealing with the
destruction of the Catholic powers, and not the end of time.
The angel sitting on the cloud did as he was instructed and used his sickle to
reap the earth. There are no negative
comments made about those being reaped here at all. In the following few verses we will see
another scene where a harvest is reaped.
That harvest is spoken of as a harvest of wrath. This one, however, is not. What we have here is the harvest of the
righteous. But to say they are harvested
does not mean that their lives were cut down and they were removed from the
earth. The purpose of a harvest is to
remove a crop from a field, where it is of no use, and place it in a position
where it can be used. Here God is
gathering up all of His scattered people, they are uniting, and the Church will spread and
grow as a result. We have here a picture
of the Restoration. While the
Reformation accomplished many good things, foremost of which was the weakening
of the papacy’s power over world governments, it fell short in the end. The cry of many reformers was that the Bible
should be the only source for spiritual knowledge. While they might have set out with good
intentions most failed to reach the desired end. It was not until the turn of the eighteenth
century that a significant and successful movement was undertaken to actually
RESTORE Christianity on a wide scale to its original form, rather than just
REFORM the present corrupt system. This
movement was known as the Restoration.
The Reformation was instrumental in weakening and eventually toppling the
Catholic Church from power. The reformers did a great deal of hard work
and many paid for their efforts with their lives. As the dust of the Reformation settled, and
“Only by believing that God was leading them can you
account for the fact that these men living in widely separated communities,
unknown to each other, were devoting their efforts to one subject, the
restoration of the church as it was in the apostolic age. Years elapsed before James O’Kelly, Abner
Jones, Elias Smith and Barton Stone learned of each other’s work in their
respective fields, but when they learned of the work of restoration that was
being carried on by others, they saw that they were all striving for the same
thing. They were not working for the
reformation of any religious group, but for the restoration of the
They were searching for unity. Not a unity achieved by one group giving up
their creed and accepting the creed of another group, but the unity brought
about by all of them giving up their respective creeds, confessions of faith,
church manuals, and taking their stand on the divinely inspired word of the
Lord. Here was a guide all could accept. They did not ask their religious neighbors to
reject their own creed and accept one formed by them, but only to do as they
had done, to surrender their belief in and their obedience to all human
doctrines and accept in their stead the doctrines proclaimed by Christ and his
apostles.”[3]
The
work of these men truly followed them as this verse had said it would. The men of this era did much to rebuild and
strengthen the Lord’s Church into a
flourishing and vital entity. The result
of their work is still manifest today in the many congregations that presently
exist as the offspring of those they founded nearly two centuries ago.
After the first angel had completed his harvest of the righteous, another angel
appears on the scene also with a sharp sickle.
This angel is also said to have come from the temple, the dwelling place
of God, showing he was acting on divine authority.
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
thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her
grapes are fully ripe.
As we have seen before, fire is often used to test the worth and purity of
different materials. This angel has
power over fire and is thus able to test and try men. This would indicate to us that his mission is
perhaps one of judgment. He then calls
out to the other angel that held the sickle and directs him to reap just as the
other angel had done. He is qualified to
direct the other angel in reaping since he has the ability to test men and
determine those who should be reaped. We
were never told explicitly what the other angel reaped, but in this case we are
told it was grapes. These grapes were “fully
ripe” which means the proper time has come for them to be gathered.
Nothing negative was said about the first harvest, but here we can see that
this second harvest is one of wrath and vengeance. This is God’s wrath upon spiritual
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.
Those subject to God’s vengeance were trodden in the winepress of His wrath. Since we are not really dealing with grapes
here, but people, we understand why blood came out of the press and not grape
juice. These people were not literally
squeezed in a winepress, but the events which occurred had basically the same
effect. The Catholic power was
decimated through the events of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth
centuries. This great destruction is
illustrated by the amount of blood that is said to have come from the winepress. A horse’s bridle would be about 5 feet from
the ground. A furlong is said to be
equivalent to 606 feet and 9 inches.[5] If you had
blood 5 feet deep covering an area 1,600 furlongs in diameter, this would be
3,701,002,850,000 gallons of blood. If
the average person has 6 quarts of blood in his body then it would take
approximately 2.5 trillion people to produce this amount of blood. This is almost five-hundred times the current
world population. Obviously, all of this
is meant in a figurative sense, but it does serve to demonstrate the magnitude
and effect of God’s vengeance against Spiritual Rome.
The
harvest scene we see here in Revelation is reminiscent of the parable of the
wheat and the tares told by Jesus. “Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven
is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: But while men slept,
his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought
forth fruit, then appeared the tares also.
So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst
not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this.
The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the
tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.
Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I
will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in
bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn” (Matthew