Revelation Chapter 14

Revelation Chapter 14 Compilation and edition of prophetic commentaries

This is the last chapter of the second set of seven chapters of Revelation, divided so beautifully into these three sets of seven Chapters, plus one about Heaven.

The First Seven had to do with what is now past history from John's day through the very End, a sort of a preview and a resume of all history. The Second Seven zeroes in on just the last period, the worst and most awful period of man's history, the Tribulation period with its Seven Tribulation Trumpets, and it virtually ends with the Seventh Trumpet, the Last Trump announcing the Coming of Christ; we zero in a little closer to all the End time events which occur upon the blowing of that last trumpet! Now, in this 14th chapter, the end of the second set of seven of chapters, we come to what is the grand finale, it really is a summary of the Grand Finale of events accompanying the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, the Rapture of His Saints!

REV.14:1 And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written in their foreheads. ** Psa.2:6 Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. ** Heb.12:22 But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, ** Rev.3:12 Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.

When John the Baptist saw Jesus, he exclaimed, "Behold the Lamb of God," (Jn.1:29) so this lamb is Jesus and these 144,000 are the same ones we saw back in chapter 7 who were being sealed in their foreheads to go through the Tribulation.

They are God's elite people who have climbed the "hill of God--MT. ZION"--a mountain of spiritual victory over the world.

REV.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:

REV.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.

There is a great fanfare for their appearance, like it's a great grand appearance of the Stars of God's Great Play! It's almost like they're taking a curtain call because they've already appeared in the play before, but here they appear with Him in Heaven.--This time not just on Mount Zion, Jerusalem, Israel where they first got their start as the first Christians of the Early Church, but after they have finally arrived, the play is almost over, they're having their curtain call, the fanfare, the applause and the plaudits of all the World in the whole creation, the voice of many waters, thunder, harpers! What a Grand Finale for any play! And they sang a new song! They have a grand final number that they're going to sing as this particular scene closes on this grand dramatic play of the Lord, only it's not just a play, it really will happen! ** REV.5:8-9 And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints. And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art

worthy ‌ to open the seals thereof: for thou was slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation.

REV.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 first fruits unto God and to the Lamb.

REV.14:5 And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God. ** 2CO.11:2 For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. ** JOH.10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

** EPH.5:27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

He makes it figuratively speaking, saying "not defiled with women" and so on, but it doesn't mean that they were a bunch of celibates! It doesn't mean that they had never committed any sins, it simply The BRIDE means that in the sight of God they were pure and holy, sanctified by the blood of Jesus Christ, that they stayed faithful to Christ, “their Bridegroom.� and BRIDEGROOM! They are greatly honoured here in this last grand scene, this great climax of the play of this particular scene of the World's greatest hour of Tribulation which is about to close with the Second Coming of Jesus Christ! They're greatly praised, there's a great orchestra, there are harps, there are songs, there're thunders, there're all kinds of tremendous celebrations, and God shows that they're in Heaven with Him! Praise God!

More on who are the 144,000?

(1) Some say they are the same as the 144,000 who got sealed before the tribulation in order to be protected from the tribulation trumpets, be they Jewish Christians, or a mixed of the “Israel of God” composed of Jewish and gentile Christians.

(2) Some others say they are the early Christians, the first fruits of Christianity. Nobody else could sing that song except these who were the ones who bore the earliest cross, the heat of the day and the pioneering of the Church--and they were nearly all Jews, those who began the Church of Jesus Christ! Nearly all of these first Christians were Jews, as they're called here in the fourth verse, "the first fruits unto God and to the Lamb." They were named in a previous chapter even by tribes, 12,000 from each tribe of Israel, 144,000 all together. If you want to take it literally, these first Jewish Christians who initiated and established the Early Christian Church are practically being honoured here by the Lord for being pioneers, so many of them martyrs and pure in heart as far as God was concerned. ** JAM.1:18 Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.

(3) Now if you don’t want to believe that they were all the first Jewish Christians you could interpret this figuratively, symbolically as being the most outstanding

believers of the Christian era throughout all history and are representatives of all those who went through the rapture, which is also called the “first resurrection�.

Following we have several announcements by several angels, like trumpeters, like heralds of the King coming out on the stage and announcing a new thing that's about to happen or has just happened: REV.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, ** MAT.24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.

REV.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. ** REV.4:11 Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.

What is the Earth worshipping these Last Days instead of God the Creator? They are worshipping man himself and the creation! By following the false, damnable, devilish lie of evolution, Darwin's fairy tale of self-determination or natural selection, which literally means you can have a part in your own creation and decide what you're going to be, they are actually saying that the creation made itself, man made himself, therefore man is God. Today’s religion is a religion of man worship and of the creation itself as embodied in "science falsely so called,"(1Tim.6:20) they say, "God is dead", we control our destiny, so abort your baby, worship your automobile, your home and television set. "Do your own thing."

But the last message to the world is going to be:"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, the fountains of waters."

REV.14:8 And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.

** JER.51:7-8 Babylon hath been a golden cup in the LORD's hand, which made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad.

Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: howl for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed. ** REV.18:2-3 And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.

This Babylon is not the ancient Babylon city of old--of which that Babylon was a type of the Babylon of all ages and the Babylon of today, the great World City Commercial System of wealth and money, riches, things and materialism! The religion of the world is the worship of things and not God! That is the Babylon which He's talking about. That is the Babylon which is used as the symbol, a symbolic name of all other Babylons or World Systems from the Beginning to the End!

Here in this great book of Revelation we have two women pictured: one very good, beautiful and pure, the bride of Christ; the other evil, wicked-though beautiful--but a licentious fornicator, adulteress, witch, harlot and Mother of Harlots, the False Church! Not only the false religions but the greatest religion of all: that of the worship of things, Materialism--riches, wealth, power! She is the false Bride who rules over the kings of this Earth! She is the Bride of many kings, many whoremongers, many governments and many rulers! She loves and fornicates with them all for gain in order that she might be rich, powerful and rule as a queen, and she thinks she shall see no sorrow!

REV.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, REV.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:

REV.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. (Rev.19:20) The Bible says that anybody who accepts the mark of the Beast is going to be damned, so obviously no truly saved Christian is going to accept it!

Because the Bible says that we who love Jesus will already have the invisible Mark of God in our foreheads--faith in Jesus Christ!

The rest of the World, at least those who are following the Antichrist, this horrible Beast, will have the Mark of the Beast in their foreheads or in their hands as they follow and worship him.--But we who love the Lord cannot accept that Mark of the Beast, and we will not! If you love Jesus, you will refuse the Mark of the Beast, because you'll have God's Mark in your forehead already! (See Revelation 7:2, 3; 9:3, 4.)

REV.14:12 Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

REV.14:13 And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, and blessed are the dead which die in the Lord (in circumstances of HIS choosing) from henceforth:

Yea, saith the Spirit; that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them. ** REV.3:10 Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. ** REV.6:11 And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow servants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.

“Blessed are the dead” There will be some martyrs at that time. What is death to the Christian? To die, as Paul said, is "to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord." (2Cor.5:8) When we die we go to be with Jesus and we'll get our reward. Death is our graduation; it’s something to look forward to, not something to fear. This is in the announcement there of some of the horrors depicted and described in the Book of Revelation on both sides of the Coming of the Lord--the horrors of the Great Tribulation before His 2nd Coming and then the Wrath of God! "Here is the patience of the saints!" What is their patience? Because here appears in the 14th verse the coming of Jesus Christ on a cloud!--The Son of Man, having a sickle and a golden crown, and He reaps the Earth!

Now come two different harvest: The first is the good one: REV.14:14 And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle.

REV.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.

REV.14:16 And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped.

Obviously a picture of Christ's great Second Coming and the gathering together of His Own unto Himself! ** Mat.13:39-43 ‌the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.

As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire... Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

(Dan.12:3, Mt.24:30-31)

** Mar.13:26 And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven.

Now this word "elect" here simply means the saved, His "ecclesia", which means His set-apart ones, His Church, His Christians, His children! And when He starts collecting His children, He's certainly going to collect them all and not leave any behind! He's going to gather all the saved together! Nobody's going to be left behind that has received Jesus as his Saviour! For "we shall all be changed!" (1Co.15:51) And we will all be raised! He'll send His angels out to gather us from everywhere, from all around the whole Earth, and He won't leave one behind. John envisioned Christ’s gathering of His children as a great harvest: He's not coming as a babe in the manger this time, but as the King of kings, to rule and reign forever!-- "And in His hand a sharp sickle‌ and the Earth was reaped!" When our testimony here is finished, the Lord will harvest all the good grain that he possibly can, will gather it and take it into His garner upstairs. The Lord will tell His angels, His reapers, "Gather the wheat into My barn!" (Mt.13:30) Jesus catches His Church out and then, immediately following in Revelation, you'll find nothing but the Wrath of God being poured out upon the wicked who remain.

The Second Coming of Jesus Christ, often referred to as the Rapture, will be the most anticipated and wonderful event for the Christians who have gone through the Tribulation. They have endured the depths of persecutions and the hell into which the world has descended under the Devil incarnate, the hideous tyranny of the Antichrist. Now their moment of release has come when they are to be taken out of this world and transported into the wonders and joys of Heaven. It will have been a very hard and difficult three and a half years, but now their deliverance comes. The Church will have been supernaturally released and rescued out of the Great Tribulation of this wicked World and will be in Heaven with Jesus having a wonderful party, the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, while there's Hell on Earth as God dumps His judgements upon their wicked enemies who were left behind!

Now comes the other Harvest: REV.14:17 And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle.

REV.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.

REV.14:19 And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. REV.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. (320 kilometers)

If you follow the order of events, then immediately after the gathering of the saints would have to follow the judgment and the wrath of God upon the wicked left behind.

The church will suffer some tribulation, but they’re not going to go through the wrath of God. "For God hath not appointed us to wrath."

(1Th.5:9) Only the wicked, only those who have totally rejected Jesus and have been persecuting His Prophets, are reserved for this fate. ** REV.16:1 And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth. ** REV.19:15-16 And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.

The Book of Joel speaks about God’s judgment. That book also reaches through those prophesies to the end of this age (a time like now), using language very similar to what is found in verses 17 to 19: ** Joel 3:12-13 Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about. Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great. (See also Joel 2:11; 3:9-11.)

But following these verses(14-16) on the rapture comes an altogether different harvest, which has to do with those who miss the first one! The slaughter at the battle of Armageddon is going to be so horrible that blood is going to run like a river, in some places even as deep as the horses' bridles! “…even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.”

That's some Wrath. 1600 furlongs--do you know how far that is? Over two hundred miles! A river of blood 200 miles long! Think of it!! Whether you think it's symbolic or not, it certainly is talking about a horrible slaughter. That's about the

length of a river that flows through the bottom of that valley of Megiddo where the battle of Armageddon will take place, and that river is normally not vey deep, up to the horses' bridles. It is not going to necessarily be a river of solid blood! Well, maybe so, but it's a little more logical and scientific to believe it's probably the blood that drains down and flows into that river from this battle, to the horses' bridles where they ford the river. (Rev.16:14, 16) Humans have tended to boast so much, but here, from God’s point of view, the whole of Godless humanity is compared to a bunch of grapes squashed in a winepress. Instead of grape juice, blood pours forth, in a last great battle of mankind. Humanity has been a race of war, and the end of our present age will be a fitting end, for we are a violent people.

And this is exactly what is going to happen soon to the Anti-Christ wicked of this world!--They will not only refuse to voluntarily yield themselves to the Prince of Peace, but in the last thrill of their violent defiance of Christ and His Kingdom, they're actually going to send armies to try to literally fight and wage war against Him!-Think of that!--The Battle of Armageddon! They'll fight against Him to the last ditch!

Those who reject God, ally themselves with the enemy, and they pay a great price for such an allegiance. Note that God is slow to anger.

He has allowed this world system (“Babylon”) to go on for thousands of years, and the only reason is to give people an opportunity to trust in His Son. Yes, He is slow

to anger, but He is certainly capable of that emotion, for He burns white-hot when sin occurs, because it harms His children.

It is essential that we understand the times in which we live. Many today want the restraints of God, loving laws and culture to be completely set aside. To the extent that people get their own way and succeed in essentially “throwing” God out of our countries and lives, we are hastening destruction on ourselves and our children.

When the time is literally “ripe,” Got will give the order and this earth and its people will reap what they have sown. The harvest WILL come.

When Christ finally takes over it's going to have to be with force and with power, "with great power and glory"! The wicked just don't understand anything else! So God says He's going to destroy them which destroy the Earth (Rev.11:18) including you, if you refuse to surrender to God and His Love, His Son Christ Jesus, the one and only Prince of Peace! He warned us, all through this book, that if you don't want Jesus, if you refuse the Love of God and the Light of Jesus, His Truth and His way, then you have nothing but darkness and horrors of Hell to look

forward to! If you reject and refuse to take Jesus into your heart, this Wrath of God is the kind of Hell on Earth you're going to go through!--Plus Hell hereafter! That's not a very bright picture we are painting for you, is it? Well, we didn't paint it, God did!

The judgment of God is sent to this planet with a sigh from above, for He has no pleasure in our destruction. “Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord GOD: and not that he should return from his ways, and live?”

(Eze.18:23, Eze.33:11) And that’s the truth. He loves us so much that He will not allow wickedness to go past a certain point. We are headed for eternity, in which sin will be no more. The harvest is coming, in which God’s wrath will bring an end to sin, and His love will RESCUE those who trust in the Lamb of God. He is the God of love! In fact, "God is love!" (1Jn.4:8) And "He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." (2Pe.3:9.)

So if you don't know Him and you want to enjoy Heavenly happiness now and forever and miss this coming Hell on Earth and Hell hereafter, then receive Jesus and His gift of Eternal Life by asking Him into your heart! Which will it be for you? The happy ending of God's wonderful, beautiful Heaven on Earth?--Or the Hell on Earth of those left behind to suffer the judgements of God, the Battle of Armageddon and the horrors of Hell brought on by Satan and his Antichrist? Which will it be for you? Whose side are you on? The choice is up to you!--Take Jesus today!--Tomorrow may be too late!

In the 14th chapter we again have the End. We have the fall of Babylon, the Rapture and we have the Wrath of God, all those major events, and the Gospel preached to all the World as well. See, the Lord keeps going over it and over it and over it, “review review review”, to try to remind us and get the things straight in our head! Within the chapters you will find that the order of events is very clear and they are sequential, but then later the Lord will often go back to a previous vision and go over it again in some other way or from some other angle, stressing or emphasising some other phase or some other point or some other personality. But it's very important that you understand, that just like those movies with flashbacks, Revelation is constructed the same way, usually the flashbacks going each time into greater detail about an event which has already been described briefly or mentioned briefly.

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T Be ready for these events. You can receive Jesus at this very moment. It is a free gift of God. (Ephesians 2:8-9). Please do this simple prayer: “Jesus, please forgive all my faults. I accept that You are the Son of God and You died for me. I invite You into my heart and life. Thank you for your gift of eternal life and please fill me with Your Holy Spirit. Help me to read and understand Your Word. Amen"

Let’s follow the order of events with the following End Time chart: the Great Tribulation starts when the Antichrist breaks the covenant (Dan9:27); at that point the 7 trumpets of tribulation begin to sound, one by one, followed by the Rapture of the saints who then go on to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, while the seven vials of the Wrath of God are poured out on the wicked. More details coming in the next few chapters.

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Compiled and edited by Gaetan from multiple sources.

Write for more info to: gaetan.goye@gmail.com