Revelation 14

     The complete victory of the Lamb of God and his church, described in three visions of the final judgment.

     14:1-5.  The Vision of the Lamb and the Consecrated Army of the Redeemed.

     14:1.  Mount Zion; cf. Ps.2:6; 125:1; Heb. 12:22; Rev. 21:2.  One hundred and forty-four thousand; symbolically, the entire number of the elect (7:4, see notes at chapter 7).  In contrast to those bearing the mark of the beast (13:17), these men of the Lord are sealed (by the Holy Spirit, Eph. 4:30) with the Lamb’s name and the name of his Father written on their foreheads.

     14:2-3.  Leading the redeemed in the new song (cf. 5:9; 15:3; see the Song of Moses, Ex. 15) is this overpoweringly glorious yet sweetly comforting voice from heaven.  Previous passages have described the voice of the Lamb (coming from the throne, v.3) as the sound of many waters (1:15); the four living creatures as having a voice of thunder (6:1); and the twenty-four elders as each having a harp (5:8).  This is the song of the new creation, the song of redemption.  Therefore, only the purchased from the earth can sing it (3).

     14:4-5.  Ones not defiled with women.  Remember that this is not to be taken literally, but is a symbol of all the elect, the whole army of the Israel of God including Gentiles and women.  Compare it with the equally inclusive symbol of the church triumphant as the pure (virgin) bride of Christ in 19:6-8.  See Ex. 19:14-15, where the priests consecrate themselves to service by this temporary denial of the flesh (not the lifelong vow of celibacy destructively imposed by Rome on her priests).  Compare 1 Sam. 21:4-5, where the men who followed David (the pre-eminent OT kingly type of Christ) consecrated themselves in his service with the same abstinence.  This abstinence implied no more about the uncleanness of women than a fast does about food.  As a way to consecrate an army for battle, it was much more appropriate than a fast of food.

     As in Prov. 7:4-5, here the Lord’s young men follow in lady wisdom’s ways, and have not turned aside after the temptress, seen here as Babylon the great harlot (8; cf. 17:5).  These are the redeemed, those purchased by the blood of the Lamb as first fruits, gathered from among men as the Lord’s portion (4).  In this way, and by their honest profession, their sins are covered, and they are blameless (5; cf. John 14:6; Act 2:21).

     14:6-13.  The Second Vision.  Three angelic heralds warn the worldly that judgment is upon them.

    14:6-7.  The angel flying in midheaven (cf. 8:13).  This angel represents the preaching of the eternal gospel to all who sit (Lit., margin) on the earth.  This use of the word sit implies settling down in idleness, comfort, and perhaps indecision.  He calls the worldly to “fear God, and give him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come….”  It is their reasonable duty to worship the Creator, for all of creation speaks of his power and wisdom, leaving them without excuse (Ro. 1:20).  They may tell themselves that they are the end result of chance plus time, but this angel, and all creation, shouts in a loud voice that such a notion is a denial of the obvious facts.

     “O LORD, how many are Thy works!  In wisdom Thou hast made them all” (Ps. 104:24).

     14:8.  The second angel announces the fall of Babylon the great.  “Babylon is the world as center of seduction” (Hendriksen, p. 186).  “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but from the world.  And the world is passing away, and also its lusts…” (1 John 2:16f.). The history of Babylon, from the fall of the tower of Babel (Gen. 11:1-9), to the sudden fall of Babylon recorded in Daniel, is a record of the folly of those who become drunk with human pride, and the lust of the passing world (Dan. 4:30; 5:19-31; cf. Is. 21:9; Jer. 51:7-8).

     Babylon is used here metaphorically.  Rome was the Babylon of John’s day, and her fall was certain.  “Babylon” has risen many times since, only to suffer the same collapse. No tower built of human pride and lust as a monument to man’s defiance of God can long escape his wrath.  No man or nation is an exception.  The laws of morality and the lessons of history will not be rewritten for an apostate America.  The angel says to all, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great.”

     14:9-13.  The third angel brings the final warning of judgment.   It is directed in a loud voice to anyone who worships the beast and his image (see chapter 13, and notes).  Just as the name of the Lamb and His Father are written on the foreheads of those who follow the Lamb (1, 4), so the number of reprobate man marks his forehead and hands, his thoughts and works (9; cf. 13:16-18).  Such men fear and worship the antichrist powers of this world rather than God, and as a consequence will drink the undiluted wine of the wrath of God (10; cf. the cup which Jesus drank to the dregs, Mt. 20:22; 26:28, 39).  To them, the presence of the holy angels and the Lamb when he comes will be an everlasting burning torment (10, 11).

     Judgment upon the enemies of Christ is vindication and salvation to those who have cried to him for relief.  This is their perseverance, that they have obeyed God and put their faith in Jesus (12; see notes at 13:9-10).  John is instructed to write that those who are faithful unto death are blessed from now on.  In contrast to those who never know rest again, these rest from their labors, for their deeds follow with them (13; cf. Mt. 6:19-21).

     14:14-20.  The Third Vision.  The Final Judgment of Both the Righteous and the Wicked. 

     14:14-16.  John sees the son of man harvest the earth, gathering all his wheat into his garner (Mt. 3:12).  Christ is seated on a white cloud of glory, a golden victor’s wreath crowns his head, and a sharp sickle is in his hand (14: cf. Dan. 7:13; Acts 1:9-11;             1 Thess. 4:16-17; Rev. 1:7, 11:12).  The secret time set by the Father is announced to the son of man (15; cf. Mt. 24:36), who with no delay gathers in his harvest with one swing of his sickle (16; cf. Mt. 24:27). 

     14:17-20.  The angels are sent forth to gather the grapes of wrath (cf. Mt. 13:41-42).  The angel who has power over fire (cf. 10) comes from the altar (of incense), where the prayers of God’s people for justice ascend to God (18; see 8:4-5).  The harvest angel gathered the grapes, and threw them into “the great wine press of the wrath of God” (19; cf. Is. 63:3 ff.; Joel 3:13).  As Jesus took the wrath of God for his people upon himself outside the city, so those who have rejected him must suffer for their own sins outside the holy city, where the wine press was trodden (20; cf. 19:15).  Blood flowed from the wine press up to the horses’ bridles (cf. 6:1-8; Zech. 1:8-10, 6:1-8), for a distance of sixteen hundred stadia (margin).  Sixteen hundred is a symbolic number, the product of 4x4x10x10.  Four is the number for the four directions, i.e., the whole created earth.  Ten is the number for earthly perfection or completeness.  Therefore, the symbol means that the wrath of God’s judgment completely covers the entire earth outside the holy city of refuge.