Chapter 14
Introduction: AThe Shepherd who began with 144,000 sheep is now identified with them as the Lamb. Notice that He doesn't have 143,999 sheep; He has 144,000 sheep ‑‑ He did not lose one! He redeemed them, He sealed them, and He kept them, for He is the Great Shepherd of the sheep. These sheep are of a different fold from the one we are in today, and the Good Shepherd brought them through the Great Tribulation. That is the picture before us as we open this chapter. It is encouraging to know that the Lamb the Lord Jesus, is going to have the last word. Babylon will fall, and the followers of the Beast will be judged.
14:1 "I saw" (John). The "Lamb", the Lord Jesus Christ. "Mount Sion" is at Jerusalem.
This verse pictures a pastoral scene which opens the millennial kingdom here upon this earth. The Lord Jesus is going to reign from Jerusalem. God Himself called it the city of the great King. And in Psalm 2:6 He says this: "Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion." It is the Father's intention to place the Lord Jesus upon the throne of David in Jerusalem, and specifically at Mount Sion.
"An hundred forty and four thousand" - those who were sealed in chapter 7.
Notice that the Lamb is standing with them on Mount Sion. Although He is in His person the Lamb, He is also the Shepherd. Remember that He started out with 144,000 and that He came through the Great Tribulation with 144,000. He didn't lose one.
14:2-3 * The 144,000 join the heavenly chorus in the Millennium. What a choir! "I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps."
"The hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth" means that they have been purchased to enter the Millennium on earth. They are not taken to heaven. Remember that this is a picture of the Millennium on earth, and these will live on the earth. The unsaved are not going to live on the earth.
"And no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth." No one can sing praises to God but the redeemed. "O give thanks unto the LORD, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever. Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy" (Ps. 107:1‑2).
In this millennial scene, heaven and earth are brought into harmony. What a contrast this is to chapter 13 where earth is in rebellion against heaven under the Beasts. Here all is tranquility under the Lamb.
14:4-5 *"Were not defiled with women; for they are virgins." What does that mean? Can have a literal or spiritual meaning, most likely both. The Great Tribulation is a period of unparalleled suffering. The 144,000 have been through that period. The abnormal times demanded an abnormal state. That was the reason they were unmarried.
You may remember that the prophet Jeremiah also lived in a critical period, the time of the Babylonian captivity. Because of the dark days, God forbade him to marry, (Jer. 16:1‑4). Our Lord Jesus mentioned those who would be mothers during the Great Tribulation: "And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!" (Matt. 24:19). During the Great Tribulation immorality will prevail. The 144,000 will have kept themselves pure.
"Firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb" has definite reference to the nation Israel (Rom. 11:15‑16). So Israel is described as the firstfruits, especially the 144,000.
"In their mouth was found no lie" - they did not participate in the lies of the Beast. They didn't fall for his lie.
"They are without blemish." They are without blemish because they are clothed in the righteousness of Christ.
14:6-7 "Another angel" denotes another radical change in God's communication with the earth. This angel is the first in a parade of six "another" angels mentioned in Rev. 14:8‑9, 15, and Rev. 14:17‑18.
During our age the gospel has been committed to men, and they alone are the messengers of it. At the beginning of the Great Tribulation men are the messengers of God, as the 144,000 reveal. Even the two witnesses with supernatural power could not stand up against Satan, but were removed from the satanic scene of earth. Angels as well as men were the messengers of the Old Testament ‑‑ ". . . the word spoken by angels was stedfast . . ." (Heb. 2:2). The times are so intense in the Great Tribulation period that only angels can get the messages of God through to the world.
"An eternal gospel." - "Fear God" is the message of this "eternal gospel." He is going to judge this earth." This is God's final call before the return of Christ in judgment.
14:8 *The Two Babylons, by Alexander Hislop: It is especially pertinent in these days in which you and I live. It reveals that Babylon has been Satan's headquarters from the very beginning. Babylon is the place where idolatry began. Semiramis was the wife of Nimrod; some scholars think that she was his mother and that she married her own son. She was queen of Babel, which later became Babylon, and she devised a nice little story (beginning a whole system of idolatry) in which she came out of an egg in the Euphrates River ‑‑ she cracked the shell and stepped out fully grown. The worship of Semiramis introduced the female principle in the deity. This reveals that Babylon was the fountainhead of false religions.
"Babylon is fallen, is fallen" This second angel announces that which is yet to come as though it had already taken place. The Greek, shows God's prophetic word is so sure that He speaks as though the event had already taken place. It is just as sure as if it were history already.
The idolatry of Babylon is a divine intoxication which will fascinate the entire world. This is the reason we are seeing so much experimentation in our day with Satan worship, exorcism, and all the cults which are definitely satanic. Notice what the Old Testament prophets have said about it: "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" (Jer. 51:7).
14:9-12 *He is speaking to a group of people who "keep the commandments of God," the Old Testament law. Scripture tells us that sacrifices will be brought during the Great Tribulation and even into the Millennium. No one can assume a neutral position during this intense period under the Beast.
14:13 *Apparently many of God's tribulation saints are going to lay down their lives for Christ. During the time of the Great Tribulation, it will be better to die than to live. They will have rest from their sorrows, and their works will follow them, and the Lord will reward them. "For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you. And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith; that your rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus Christ for me by my coming to you again" (Phil. 1:23‑26).
Illustration in the south: A little boy went to church on a Sunday night. The preacher asked, "How many of you want to go to heaven?" Everybody but this boy put up his hand. The preacher looked at him and asked, "Son, don't you want to go to heaven?" "Sure," the boy answered, "but I thought you were getting up a load for tonight!"
"And their works do follow them" reveals that they will be rewarded for their faithfulness, patience, and works in this period. God does not save anyone for his works, but He does reward us for our works.
14:14 "A white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man" is the Lord Jesus Christ. The cloud is a mark of identification: "And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory" (Matt. 24:30). I think that the "clouds" are the shekinah cloud, which is "the sign" in heaven.
"On his head a golden crown" further confirms this One as the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the hero of the Book of Revelation, my friend, and you need this book to get a true picture of Him. He is seen as King ‑‑ not as Prophet or Priest. His office as King is always connected with His return to the earth.
"A sharp sickle" the word sickle occurs only twelve times in the Scriptures, of which seven are in the verses of this section. Also, the word sharp occurs seven times in the Revelation, and four times in this chapter.
14:15-16 "Send forth thy sickle, and reap" refers to the judgment of men on the earth.
(Joel 3:13‑14).
14:17-18 The "sharp sickle" indicates judgment. (Isa. 63:1‑6). This vivid picture is not of Christ at His first coming but of Christ when He returns in judgment. In Isaiah's day men would get into the winepress barefooted to tread out the grapes. The red juice would spurt out of the ripe grapes and stain their garments. The picture in this verse is of spectators seeing that there is blood on our Lord's beautiful garments as though He had trodden the winepress. When Christ came the first time, He shed His blood for them, but they have rejected it. Now He is trodding down the wicked, and it is their blood that is shed. He will gather them, as we will see in Revelation 16:16, "into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon."
Notice in this passage from Isaiah's prophecy that He is seen treading the winepress alone. It is positively terrifying. Little wonder that the men of this earth will cry to the rocks to fall upon them and hide them from the wrath of the Lamb. He will break them with a rod of iron" and "dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel." The Lord Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, but He is also the Judge of all the world.
What a picture this is! The precious blood of the Lamb having been rejected, the blood of those who defied God and followed and worshiped the Beast bathes the earth. It is frightful. As a ripe grape is mashed and the juice flies in every direction, so will little man fall into the vat of God's judgment.
14:19-20 "Without the city" means outside of Jerusalem. "Unto the bridles of the horses" means about four feet deep.
"A thousand and six hundred furlongs" is about 185 miles, and that is the distance from Dan to Beer‑sheba. All of Palestine is the scene of this final war which ends in what is called Armageddon. It is a campaign beginning about the middle of the Great Tribulation and is concluded by the personal return of Christ to the earth. (Psalm 45:3‑7)
Our only escape is to accept the work of Christ for us on Calvary. The Bible asks a question that even God cannot answer: "How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation? . . ." (Heb. 2:3). Escape what? Escape judgment ‑‑ the Tribulation is judgment. The way out is to accept Christ. Call it an escape mechanism if you want to; but, my friend, when the house is on fire, I'll go out a window or any other way that is an escape.