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Commentary on Revelation

Chapter 14

The Lamb on Mount Zion

Rev. 14:1 Then I looked, and lo, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him a hundred and forty-four thousand who had his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads. 2 And I heard a voice from heaven like the sound of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder; the voice I heard was like the sound of harpers playing on their harps, 3 and they sing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders. No one could learn that song except the hundred and forty-four thousand who had been redeemed from the earth. 4 It is these who have not defiled themselves with women, for they are chaste; it is these who follow the Lamb wherever he goes; these have been redeemed from mankind as first fruits for God and the Lamb, 5 and in their mouth no lie was found, for they are spotless.

The lamb is the resurrected Christ. Although the lamb had been slain (Rev. 5:6) it now stands on Mount Zion. Jesus defeated death at the cross: Hebrews 2:14-15. What is Mount Zion? It is the place from which salvation comes: Psalm 14:7. It is the place from which the Saviour comes: Romans 11:26. Compare Psalm 2:6 - "I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill." When was this done? At the resurrection of Christ. (See Acts 13:32-37 where Ps. 2:7 is applied to the resurrection of Jesus.) Who are the 144,000? The Church. We have already answered this question in our comments on Chapter 7. Recall that the number 12 symbolizes the people of God (12 patriarchs, 12 apostles, 12 tribes). The number 144,000 = 12 x 12 x 1000 is God's way of emphasizing that all of his people are under his care and protection. Additional clues are given by the descriptions of the 144,000.

1. In Chapter 7, the 144,000 are sealed with the name of God and the Lamb. Rev. 3:12 says that those who conquer have the name of God and Christ written on them. Who are those who conquer? The Church! (See Romans 8:37.)

2. Chapter 7 calls the 144,000 Israelites. Did he literally mean Jews? No, in Rev. 3:9 Jesus spoke of people who said they were Jews but were not. (They were physical Jews but not spiritual Jews.) Who are the spiritual Israelites at this time? The Church! Israel is an established name for God's people and that is how it is used here. See Appendix B.

3. Chapter 14 says that the 144,000 are those that have been redeemed from the earth. The Church has been redeemed from the earth. 1 Cor. 6:20 and 1 Cor. 7:23 say "You were bought with a price" and 1 Peter 1:18,19 says "You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your fathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot." Finally, Rev. 5:9-10 says that those Christ redeemed became a kingdom or priests and 1 Peter 2:9 describes the Church as a royal priesthood.

4. Chapter 14 describes the 144,000 as virgins and in 2 Cor. 11:2 Paul describes the Church as a "pure bride" presented to her one husband (Jesus Christ). See also Ephesians 5:21-33 where Paul describes the relationship between Christ and his Church as a marriage.

5. Chapter 14 tells us that only the 144,000 could learn the new song. This is the new song of redemption we saw in Chapter 5:9-10. That only the 144,000 could learn this song tells us that the 144,000 include all of the redeemed. No one but the 144,000 could sing this song! The 144,000 is not just a part of the Church. The 144,0000 is the Church.

6. Chapter 14 describes the 144,000 as those redeemed from mankind as first fruits for God and the Lamb. James 1:18 describes the Church as "a kind of first fruits of his creatures."

7. Chapter 14 describes the 144,000 as those who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. In Luke 9:23-24 Jesus says "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake, he will save it."

8. Chapter 14 describes the 144,000 as being spotless. Ephesians 5:27 describes the Church as being without spot or wrinkle.

Objection: But don't the 24 elders pictured here also represent the Church? Yes (see 4:4), but from a different perspective; the 144,000 represent the Church as those redeemed from mankind and the 24 elders represent the Church as a royal priesthood continuously serving God. Remember that Rome was represented by two distinct images in Chapter 13 to emphasize different perspectives.

Interlude: the angelic messages

6 Then I saw another angel flying in midheaven, with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and tongue and people; 7 and he said with a loud voice, "Fear God and give him glory, for the hour of his judgment has come; and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the fountains of water."

This angel delivers a gospel - good news to those who follow God and a warning to those who don't. The righteous will be vindicated. The persecutors will be judged. The beast is not unstoppable. Coming events will show that God alone is worthy of worship.

8 Another angel, a second, followed, saying, "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who made all nations drink the wine of her impure passion."

In Chapter 17 we will see that Babylon the Great depicts Rome as a harlot who is drunk with the blood of the Saints. Babylon was a well known persecutor of God's people and the reason for its comparison with Rome is immediate. Babylon has fallen: The tense of the verb emphasizes the certainty of the event. In Genesis 17:5 God said to Abraham, "I have made you the father of a multitude of nations." At the time, Abraham had no children! The tense stressed the certainty of the fulfillment. The "wine of her impure passion" is the the blood of the Saints and martyrs (17:6). The next angel will serve the harlot another drink - the unmixed wine of God's wrath.

9 And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, "If any one worships the beast and its image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, 10 he also shall drink the wine of God's wrath, poured unmixed into the cup of his anger, and he shall be tormented with fire and sulphur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. 11 And the smoke of their torment goes up for ever and ever; and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name." 12 Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.

God's wrath is reserved for those who worship the beast. Their judgment is coming. Fire and brimstone (or sulfur) were literally used to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah and since has become a symbol for other judgments of God. For example, similar language is used in Isaiah 34:8-17 to describe the judgment against Edom. Was Edom literally destroyed by fire and brimstone as Sodom was? No. In Isaiah 34:9-10 we read that the land of Edom would burn endlessly yet in vv.13-15 we read that at the same time wild animals would live there. The language against Edom (and against Rome here) was figurative and was intended to recall the past judgments of God. Note that Hell is not being pictured here. The context makes clear that this language is used to depict God's judgment of Rome and not his final judgment against the ungodly. (Similar language in other contexts is used to depict other judgments - the judgment against Edom and the final judgment to name two.) Further, the judgment pictured here takes place "in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb" whereas in 2 Thess. 1:9 we see that the punishment brought about by the final judgment will take place in "exclusion from the presence of the Lord."

13 And I heard a voice from heaven saying, "Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord henceforth." "Blessed indeed," says the Spirit, "that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!" 14 Then I looked, and lo, a white cloud, and seated on the cloud one like a son of man, with a golden crown on his head, and a sharp sickle in his hand. 15 And another angel came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to him who sat upon the cloud, "Put in your sickle, and reap, for the hour to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is fully ripe." 16 So he who sat upon the cloud swung his sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped.

Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord henceforth. The "henceforth" implies that they are blessed from that point on. (It does not imply that those who had previously died in the Lord were not blessed.) Jesus is pictured as riding on a white cloud, wearing a crown of victory, and ready to reap the harvest. Isaiah 19:1 pictures God riding on a swift cloud to judge Egypt. The hour to reap is the hour of judgment. A common symbol for judgment involves the separation of wheat and chaff. Recall John's comments concerning Christ in Mat. 4:12 - "His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the granary, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."

The Message: Judgment is coming!

17 And another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. 18 Then another angel came out from the altar, the angel who has power over fire, and he called with a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, "Put in your sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for its grapes are ripe." 19 So the angel swung his sickle on the earth and gathered the vintage of the earth, and threw it into the great wine press of the wrath of God; 20 and the wine press was trodden outside the city, and blood flowed from the wine press, as high as a horse's bridle, for one thousand six hundred stadia.

In this passage we see two angels; one who carries and sickle and another who comes "out from the altar" and who "has power over fire." The first angel begins to "reap the earth" when the second angel gives him the go ahead. The altar from which the second angel emerges is the brazen altar of burnt offering from which the coals were taken for the incense offering. (Recall our comments on 8:5.) The judges of Israel marched from this altar in Ezekiel 9:1-2. The gathering of the vintage is a classic figure for God's judgment of the wicked. He tramples them as one would trample grapes. The grapes are trodden "outside the city." The city could be Rome or it could be the city of God. Ezekiel 62:12-63:6 pictures God as trodding the wine press (against Edom) outside of the city alone. That is, the picture may be one of God leaving his city to trample the wicked who are outside. The blood depicts the severity of the judgment. 1600 stadia or furlongs is about 200 miles. Thus we have a river of blood which is 200 miles long and as deep as a horse's chest. Its intent is to frighten. The coming judgment will be terrifying. (This passage causes particular trouble for the literalists. A river of blood 200 miles long, a modest 100 feet wide, and 5 feet deep would contain 3,949,714,285 gallons; that is, enough blood to fill up over 3.5 billion people (at 4.5 quarts/person).) The apocryphal book of Enoch speaks of people who will be "smitten in one place ... until it streams with their blood like a river ... and the horses will walk up to their breast in the blood of sinners, and the chariots will be submerged to its height." Literal? No. Terrifying? Definitely.

Review

1. Before the seals were opened we had a vision of Heaven which assured us that the true throne was in Heaven and not in Rome. (Chapters 4 and 5.)

2. Before the trumpets were sounded we were shown a period of silence in Heaven (a drumroll) and told that the coming judgment was based upon a call for justice by the saints. (Chapters 8 and 9.)

3. Chapter 15 is a third vision of Heaven and occurs before the bowls of God's wrath are poured out in Chapter 16.