Rev 14:1-15:4
"The Reward of the Saints and Judgment of the Wicked"
Let me take a few moments to remind you of some basic principles in interpreting the book. Revelation describes the kingdom of God, which began at Christ's first coming, and will be completely fulfilled at His Second Coming.
The Book of Revelation says nothing new that you haven't already seen in the gospels and the Epistles. You must understand this. Revelation tells you nothing you haven't already been told in the other books of the Bible.
The difference between the Epistles and Revelation is that what the Epistles give you in straight propositions, Revelation gives you in symbolic pictures. For example, Jesus and Peter warned us about trials and sufferings that would come our way during this age. In Revelation those statements are pictured for us. The Epistles tell us that Jesus will return and judge the wicked; Revelation pictures that for us.
So you cannot see Revelation as a series of literal chronological events that will all happen immediately before Christ returns. Revelation pictures for us what we have already been told in the rest of Scripture.
To give us this in pictures, the Book of Revelation uses a literary style called recapitulation. Recapitulation is the retelling of the same event seen from a different perspective. For example, consider the Books of Kings and Chronicles. Both Kings and Chronicles record the same historical events. Yet Chronicles is different than Kings. Kings is written more from man's perspective, while Chronicles is written more from God's perspective. So Chronicles recapitulates Kings.
The second half of Revelation uses a series of seven visions to describe the church age, all leading up to Christ's return. They all describe the same age, but each vision gives us a different perspective on the age from Christ's resurrection to His return.
Revelation, like the prophecies in the Old Testament, uses figurative language. Prophecies use symbolism. Symbolism in no way negates the reality of these truths.
When you get to heaven and look at Christ, you will not look at a literal sheep; you will look at a man. There are not seven Holy Spirits, though the Book begins with a description of the Spirit as the seven Spirits of God. You are being keyed from the beginning how to understand the descriptions in Revelation. They are symbolic.
We are in the midst of John's vision describing the holy war between the evil one and the saints of God in this age. Paul told us that we struggle not against flesh and blood, but against the evil entities in the heavenly places. Chapters 12 and 13 pictured this battle for us.
We saw how that the goal of the evil one during this age was to tempt believers to deny Christ. He would do so by bringing suffering, temptations, and discouragement. Since he knows he can not injure Christ anymore, and he knows that the cross ultimately defeated him, he is concentrating on defeating those Christ has called to Himself. Our passage this morning is the last section describing this holy war, focusing on the end results of this war for both sides.
The Book of Revelation was written to give you the big picture. That is why the Lord gave this vision to John to send to all the churches. We need to always keep the big picture before us.
You see, the Christian life is difficult. Of course in many nations the Christian is persecuted greatly simply for being a Christian. But in general the Christian life is difficult for all true believers. The Christian spends his life serving God and others. He gives up many pleasures of the moment because of his service to God and others.
The Christian does not work every day to gain as much pleasure money can buy; the Christian works to provide for his family and relatives, and to support the church. The Christian serves his parents, his spouse, his children, and the Christian serves in the body of Christ, helping and encouraging one another, not for personal gain, but for Christ's glory.
As the Christian serves, he deals with the stresses of everyday life, the stress that comes from unbelieving family, or interpersonal relationships. He struggles with sickness and eventually death. Christians basically give up on using this life to seek as much pleasure and happiness as possible, to instead serve Christ and others.
Now the reality is, in this life we don't get much of a return on our investment. If we forget the big picture, if we begin to focus only on our everyday life in this world, we can become tempted to compromise our faith in order to get the most out of this life.
We see those things we are missing that others might have, whether monetarily, sexually, or whatever we think will bring us happiness, and we are tempted to compromise or abandon our faith to receive them. We need to keep the big picture before us or we will easily become too weary in our service.
John uses an antiphony to bring us the end result of the holy war. In music an antiphony is the alternating of sounds or phrases from one side then another. John alternates between the outcome for the saint and the outcome for the sinner, but he begins and ends with the focus on the saint's reward. At the center of the passage is a call to endure, the purpose all this was written.
In the first section, John sees the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and the 144,000 surround the Lamb. These 144,000 have the name of the Father and the Son on their foreheads. Now we have seen that the 144,000 represent all the saints from the Old and New Testaments. The twelve tribes symbolize the saints of the Old, the twelve apostles symbolize the saints of the New, and the thousands symbolize the great number of the Redeemed. So here we have every believer, from Adam and Eve to the last saint, standing before Christ in heaven.
In the Old Testament prophecies, Mount Zion was a picture of the eternal city to come; in other words, the new heavens and earth. And naming implies ownership. To have the Father and Son's name on our foreheads is to signify that we belong to the Father and the Son.
So here we see the result from chapters 12 and 13. Though Satan attempted to draw Christ's sheep away from him through trials and temptations, here they are; every last one for whom Christ died, in heaven with their Savior. The saints persevered through the onslaught of the enemy, proving that they truly were Christ's.
What are the saints doing? What we would expect them to be doing. They are singing. There were so many in that choir that in v. 3 John describes the singing as the sound of many waters and loud thunder. In one sense every hymn you sing to God in church now is a taste of this final song. Now you sing by faith. You do not see all your brothers in this choir. You do not see the Lamb you are singing to. And you sing amid the weakness of this life. But one day you will sing by sight. That singing will be so sublime that John can only describe it as the sound of many waters, the sound of thunder, and the beautiful sound of harpists playing their harps.
What are they singing? A new song. In the Old Testament, Israel was to sing a new song every time God accomplished something great for them. The saints sing a new song of that final accomplishment of the Lamb, dying for our sin and bringing us to heaven. Only those who had been redeemed could sing this song. There will be no more earthly church, where the redeemed and the hypocrite sing hymns together. Here only the redeemed can sing.
John describes the redeemed in v 4 as those who have not defiled themselves with women, pure virgins who follow the lamb wherever He goes. These images do not speak of perfection on the earth; they symbolize faithfulness opposed to turning away from Christ and living for self. These are the ones who, when the evil one brought trials and temptations, did not turn from away Christ to seek their own pleasure in this world.
These have been redeemed from the rest of mankind; they are firstfruits to God. In Israel the first fruits were the ones set apart from the rest of the harvest. These have been set apart by God from the rest of sinful humanity.
In verses 6-11 John now turns to the end result of those who had been on the side of the evil one. John sees an angel flying overhead, announcing good news. Now in the context of this passage, this is not really referring to good news in the sense of offering the gospel to the lost. The good news is to the Redeemed who are suffering in this holy war.
The angel announces to sinful man that it is time to give glory to God, for the hour of judgment has arrived. Remember all men will glorify God one way or another. Either they will glorify God in love because He is their Savior, or at His return they will be forced to admit that Jesus is indeed Lord, even though they hate Him. The latter is what the angel is calling for.
In v. 8 John sees a second angel announcing that Babylon the great has fallen. In the Old Testament, Babylon was the nation that tempted Daniel and his friends to deny the Lord. In Revelation Babylon symbolizes the world system; the world's temptations; all people and values of this world that would encourage you to find your happiness here by compromising your faith in Christ.
Though the true saints struggle to resist her, they ultimately triumph. Unbelievers on the other hand have fully drunk from her cup. The image of sexual immorality in v. 8 symbolizes all love for this world.
The unbelievers of this world are pictured as those drunk from the wine of Babylon. What an insightful image! I never cease to be amazed at unbelieving elderly people. You ask them if they fear the fact that very soon they will stand before their Creator. Though they usually acknowledge the existence of God, they aren't really concerned about being accountable to Him. They have no worries about it. Oh, He'll look at the good things I've done and ignore the rest.
And yet, if that elderly person gets a traffic ticket and has to appear before a human judge, he spends weeks fretting about that appearance, worrying how much it will cost them. It is like they are drunk to reality. You feel like shaking them out of their stupor. You worry about pleasing a human judge, and losing a hundred dollars, but you have no concern about eternity! Unbelief is certainly like drunkenness.
But though the unbeliever has given his allegiance to Babylon, Babylon will fall, as surely as the old Babylon fell. And those who spent their lives seeking the wine of her pleasure will drink another cup of wine. In v. 10 and 11 John describes in maybe the most horrible passage in the entire Bible the outcome of the unbeliever.
There is another cup to drink; it is the cup of God's wrath. It is the cup Jesus drank on the cross for His people. In the presence of the angels and of Christ, unbelievers will be judged eternally; and yes, the description in v. 11 is one of a conscious, eternal punishment. That is the only way to understand the word "torment."
These have worshiped the beast and his image, which means they have lived for the pleasures and honors of this world, and in that sense identified with Satan. They were owned by him and lived as he did, only for himself. Thus the name of God in v. 1 is the other side to the mark of the beast. Both the name and the mark symbolize ownership.
But notice this phrase in v. 10. Fire and brimstone. The church is tempted in our day to not be a church that preaches fire and brimstone. That is an unpopular message. I have had Christians tell me with pride that their church does not preach fire and brimstone, but only how God helps us in this life. But here it is folks; fire and brimstone. Some fiery country preachers didn't make this up. It's biblical - it's part of the message entrusted to the church.
In v. 12 the saints are exhorted in the face of all this to continue obeying God and holding to their faith in Christ. V. 13 again returns to the reward for the righteous. They are blessed even when they die in the Lord. From the moment of their death their souls enjoy rest with God, and their bodies which died in the Lord will be raised at Christ's return. The Spirit Himself assures us that we will be blessed indeed.
But note this added phrase. Not only will we be in heaven, but our deeds follow us there. Remember all those deeds you have done for you church, for your family, for the lost around you.
Remember how it seemed you were never really rewarded for your service? Well, here are all those deeds, they've followed you to heaven.
All that service you put in for the Lord, all the times you wives have submitted to your husbands for Christ's sake, all those times you children have obeyed your parents for Christ's sake, all you have done for Christ, no matter how routine; all that service you really didn't see any earthly return for, here are those deeds. They have followed you to heaven. And here is the Lord graciously rewarding us for them. This is a call for our endurance.
From vv. 14 through 20 we have our second description of final judgment, another awful picture. John sees Christ with a golden crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. A sickle was used to gather the grapes off the vine. An angel calls from heaven for Christ to come down and gather up all the grapes, for the harvest is ready.
Thus we have two harvests in this passage. The redeemed were the first fruits, a harvest set apart for God. The rest of humanity is now ready for the second harvest, referring to final judgment.
We might sometimes wonder what God is doing as he watches the peoples of the world murder, and rape, and abuse, and cheat, commit sexual immorality, and blaspheming him. The Bible says that in his love he waits patiently, but in his holiness he grows tired. There will be a time when the iniquities of the world have reached their full. God will have had enough.
In v. 17 another angel joins Christ with a sickle in his hand, and he has authority over fire, which means authority to judge. This angel gathers all the grapes and throws them into the great winepress of God's wrath.
V. 20 is another terrible picture. The judgment will occur outside the city - referring to the holy city, the New Jerusalem. As with the ark, the gates of the heavenly city will be closed, and unbelievers will suffer on the outside.
The wine of the winepress represents the blood of the wicked at the judgment. The judgment is so severe that it is pictured as a battle where the horses are actually swimming in the blood of those slaughtered, and the blood spreads for many miles.
This is difficult to preach. I wonder how well this reality has captured our hearts. Do you see why we as a church need to be focused on bringing the gospel to the lost? Do you see why you cannot live as if this world were all that mattered?
In v. 1 of chapter 15, John introduces the seven bowls of judgment, but does not begin describing those bowls until v. 5. John did the same with the seven trumpets in chapter 8, where he introduces the next series of visions, but then returned to the end of the previous vision.
John ends this section with one final look at the outcome of the saint. The Lord would rather have our eyes on heaven than hell. The Lord is always drawing our eyes onto heaven and having them rest there. In v. 2 John beholds a sea of glass mingled with fire. The seas in the Old Testament symbolized the evil forces against God and His people. The Psalms speak of the nations against Israel as roaring seas. This is why in Rev 22:1 it says in the new heavens and earth there will be no more sea.
Here the picture is of a sea of glass -the waters have been calmed because of God's judgment - pictured by the fire. Standing by the sea are the Redeemed. These are the ones who had endured. By their endurance they conquered the beast and all things associated with the temptations of this world. As with the opening of this section, they are singing to God; again the harp imagery returns.
The theme of this last section is the new exodus. Notice the analogy. The saints are standing beside the sea singing the song of Moses. The Old Testament Exodus was a picture of the eternal exodus accomplished by Christ. As with the old exodus, the redeemed stand by the sea, singing the song of the new exodus. The words of the song take on greater meaning that the Israelites next to the Red Sea realized. Here is what they sing:.
Great and amazing are your deeds, o Lord god Almighty. Just and true are your ways O King of the nations. Who will not fear you, O Lord, and glorify your name. For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts will be revealed.
The Old Testament prophecies promised a time when the all the nations would come and bow before God. That is fulfilled in two ways. It is fulfilled in this age as the redeemed from every nation come to Christ and in the church worship God with the saints. And it will be fulfilled at final judgment, when unrepentant sinners will be forced to bow before God and exclaim that he indeed is the Lord.
If you are not a Christian, all I can tell you now is, make sure you are on the right side when this happens. Repent of your sin and trust in Jesus to save you. His death on the cross will cover all your sins.
Beloved of God, keep the big picture before your eyes. Do not lose focus. Here is a call for endurance. Do not grow weary in going good, for in due time we will reap if we do not give up. Amen