Lesson Five

Chapter 14:6-14

Divine Symbol of Three Angels

a) This is a message to address both the believers and unbelievers of the coming destruction, warning unbelievers and shallow Christians and assuring the faithful that their vindication is imminent.

b) Verse 6, 8 & 9: “another angle” These angels, like in the trumpet judgments, are used to introduce divine judgment (7:2; 8:3; 10:1). This is keeping with the “open scroll” theme that the slain lamb will do in Rev 5 to put an end of all evil in God’s creation.

c) Verse 6: The first Angel proclamation of the “Eternal gospel.” This emphasizes the good news also called the “mystery of God” in 10:7 by the 7th angel sounding the trumpet.

d) Verse 7:

- There is a call for all nations to “fear God and give him glory” in the light of the coming judgment. Fearing God and giving him glory are the signs of true repentance are demonstrated by the people’s: 1) fear of God and 2) giving glory to the God of heaven. This is the same behaviour in 15:4 that the saints were signing about in their victory song. Compare this to the behaviour of the unbelievers (cf. 16:9). We see this behaviour of the repentant survivors from the great earthquake in 11:13

- “The hour of his judgment has come” speaks about the final outpouring of judgment (3:10—the hour of trial; 9:15--the angels kept ready for this very hour; 14:15—the hour to reap has come; 18:10, 17, 10—in one hour your doom has come. This speaks about when Babylon will fall. This hour speaks about the great earthquake—The Battle of Armageddon.

- “Loud voice:” It is the final call given to all the nations to repent. It is the final chance. This call started with Jesus’ message call when he was on earth: “The Kingdom is near. Repent and believe the good news” (Mark 1:14-15). This is the final warning before the door of salvation before “hour of judgment.”

- A call to “Worship Him who made the heavens, the earth…” This is a call to make a choice. Are you going to worship the Beast or worship the Creator? Are you going to trust you life with what you get from this world? Or you going to trust your life with what God wants for you? Do you think that living under the judgment of God is of a lesser degree of suffering than the persecution of saints?

e) Verse 8: The second angel follows after speaking about “Fallen is Babylon.”

- Babylon is the code name of any nation that doesn’t have the fear of God. And near the time of Jesus return, the nations of the world would be most turned away form God as Jesus alluded to in Matthew 24. Revelation 13 picks up on this. It will be the time when the Antichrist has arrived to push the agenda of the Dragon (Satan) in Revelation 12.

- This is the first of six places that “Babylon” is mentioned in the book (16:19; 17:5; 18:2, 10, 21). Also described as the great city. There is an ancient prophecy of Babylon’s fall in Isaiah 21:9)

- “Drinking madding wine of her adulteries” speaks about drinking the wine that leads to the passion of her immorality. This is unlike the cup of Jesus that his disciples are to drink. This is the cup of suffering (Matt 10:38-39). Jesus is not being a sadist here. He is speaking of the narrow road vs. the broad road. Most people live their lives on the road of least resistance. But only true champions new the real struggle that it takes to win an Olympic gold metal.

f) Verse 9-11: Third Angel warns people to not follow the beast.

- The false prophet forces all to accept the mark to avoid economic sanctions and death. But the angel is emphasizing here, whoever takes the mark will go through a far greater penalty, eternal torment.

- Verbs “worships” and “receives” are continuous present tense, meaning that they have ongoing commitment to worship the beast and receive the mark, never to turn back. It is not a one-time decision but it is a decision made never to change from. It is a mind made up. It is a desire not wanting anyone to change it.

- “God’s fury in fill strength” This continual wayward lifestyle will one day catch up with God’s wrath. And his wrath will not wear off like some wine does. It will be at full strength… full dosage of undiluted torment. The wrath of God is now defined carefully as eternal torment. “Burning surfer” speaks about hell. Why does God allow this? Because God is just. And one of the benefits for God being just is that he is going to make Satan pay for all his sins. Hell was not made for humans, but for the devil and his angels (20:10). This is also what Jesus taught (Matt 25:41). God wants the devil to pay big time for what he has done. But if he makes the devil pay for it now, all how are under the devil’s spell will suffer in hell with him. It is not God’s desire for any people to go to hell, but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). This is why he is waiting to save as many before he drops the gauntlet on Satan. Because when he drops it, everything and everyone in his kingdom is crashing down into hell. Note: Hell is where a person’s sins and all its accompanying consequences become unleashed into a world where it is allowed to happen forever. Hell is a self-perpetuating world of endless sin, compounding upon itself endless destruction. Sin is an addiction that no one can break, putting us run-a-away train heading for Hell. The only way we can break free from sin and be saved from Hell is by way of the cure that Jesus provided for us through his finished work on the cross and in the grave (John 3:16)

g) Call For Endurance (v. 12-13)

- John pauses to call readers to endurance. In the judgment to come, the saints must persevere. It calls believers to both wait on the Lord and to overcome evil (1:9)

- Verse 12: This verse defines two aspects of endurance. Firstly, the Christian must maintain faith in Jesus and obey God‘s commands. Secondly, many of those who persevere will perish for their faithfulness to Christ

- Verse 13:

o John hears a voice from heaven giving reassurance. This voice comes straight from God.

o The voice tells John to write a beatitude: “blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on, they will rest from the labor, for the deeds will follow them.”

o One aspect of the Blessing refers to martyrs. Martyrdom is a spiritual discipline that will be brought back full force near the return of the Lord. It’s a major theme in the book of revelation. And as monitor was the seed of the church in church history, so will it be the seed of the church in the final period of history.

o The other aspect of the blessing refers to all who die in the Lord. Today in the lord means to remain faithful to the very end, to make Christ the sphere of your life.

o “Now on” speaks about the period of testing and persecution that will start for the church and that is going to happen from now on

o “Rest in the Lord” unlike the unbelievers where there is no rest day and night in the torment of burning fire, those who die in the Lord will enter God’s rest (read Hebrew 4:1-11). This will be a “Rest from their labours” will work on behalf of Christ—their faithful witness, not growing weary under their perseverance under persecution.