Revelation 14 - The Wrong Side of Eternity
Unveiled Hope: The Reigning Christ of Revelation • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 39:45
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· 66 viewsWe are called to enduring obedience in light of our eternal reward in the presence of the Lamb
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Introduction
Introduction
So right now we are just under three months until the November election—with all the ramped-up rhetoric and breathless predictions of the end of America as we know it coming from both sides. Our television airwaves are increasingly filled with dark images of terror and gloom that threaten us with horrible anarchy and destruction if we vote for the other guy—not to mention the constant warnings that if we don’t affirm a particular political and moral framework that we will be “on the wrong side of history”.
But if we have learned anything from our study of Revelation so far, we have learned that no matter who wins an election, our hope as Christians is not in politics—as John Calvin wrote, “Even though all the princes of the earth were to unite for the maintenance of our Gospel, still we must not make that the foundation of our hope” (D’Aubign’E, J. H. M. (1999). History of the Reformation in the Time of Calvin. Hartland Publications. p. xi-179).
What we saw last week in Revelation 13 is that whatever “beastly” behavior we see out of our government in the coming months and years (and whatever falsehoods, apostasies and heresies come out of various religious leaders), we can endure—because the Dragon that energizes and authorizes that beastliness has already been defeated. In Revelation 13:10 we read,
If anyone is to be taken captive, to captivity he goes; if anyone is to be slain with the sword, with the sword must he be slain. Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints.
As bad as it might get, Christian, whatever pain or hardship or danger you might face, it will never get so bad as to destroy the Church, because the Satanic power that energizes that persecution has already been defeated by the blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ!
We are constantly being threatened that if we do not swear allegiance to a particular ideology in this country—whether it is the demands to honor our culture’s sexual rebellion, or the threats of being fined, fired or “cancelled” for not admitting to (and “repenting of”) our inherent “racism”—if we do not submit, they warn us, future generations will look at us the same way as we look down on the historical villains of the past—Nazis, white supremacists and the southern Confederacy. But Revelation 14 this morning is a reminder to us that it is far better to be on the “wrong side of history” than on the wrong side of eternity.
Chapter 13 ends with a description of those who have “taken the mark of the Beast” so that they can participate in life under that wicked and rebellious government. As we said last week, the “mark of the Beast” on the “right hand and forehead” was a Satanic parody of the way believers are sealed in Revelation 7:3. Just as Christians are to be obviously faithful to Christ in everything they do (with their right hand) and everything they think and everyone that sees them (forehead), so the mark that John describes in at the end of Chapter 13 indicates that those who wear it are “all in” in their allegiance against Christ.
And Chapter 14 will go on to show that those who take that mark—those who go “all in” in their opposition to Christ may enjoy being on the “right” side of history, as they like to say, but the terrible warning in this chapter is that those who go “all in” in their opposition to the Lamb will find themselves on the wrong side of eternity.
We noted last week that Revelation 13 formed what is called a “chiasm”, with repeating thoughts repeating at the beginning and end of the chapter in order to highlight a central truth. There was a description of a “beast” from verses 1-8, then the central “key” in verses 9-10 calling for endurance and faith in light of temporary persecution, and ending with the description of another beast.
Here in Chapter 14 we see that same structure carried out, with matching ideas repeated in sequence at the beginning and end of the chapter with a key truth in the middle. If you follow down through, you can see the pattern: In verses 1-5 we read about the reward of the righteous, and in verses 17-20 we read about the reward of the wicked—blood flowing as God’s wrath falls. In verses 6-7 we see an angel announcing the Gospel of redemption across the whole earth, and in verses 14-16 we see the “Son of Man” reaping the harvest of the redeemed from the earth. In verses 8-11 we read of the restlessness of the damned, and in verse 13 we read of the rest for the redeemed. And all of those parallels come right down to verse 12:
Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.
Chapter 13 encourages enduring faith in light of temporary persecution—it is no hardship to be “on the wrong side of history”, because history is temporary. Chapter 14 calls us to enduring obedience in light of our eternal rewards—that to be “on the wrong side of eternity” is a horrifying, terrifying prospect. So what I hope for us to see here in Revelation 14 this morning is that
We are called to enduring obedience in light of our eternal reward in the presence of the Lamb
We are called to enduring obedience in light of our eternal reward in the presence of the Lamb
It is better to be on the “wrong side of history” than on the “wrong side of eternity”. Because for those who have been marked by the sealing blood of Christ,
I. There is eternal joy in the presence of the Lamb
I. There is eternal joy in the presence of the Lamb
Look at verses 1-5 with me:
Then I looked, and behold, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven like the roar of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder. The voice I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps, and they were singing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders. No one could learn that song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. It is these who have not defiled themselves with women, for they are virgins. It is these who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These have been redeemed from mankind as firstfruits for God and the Lamb, and in their mouth no lie was found, for they are blameless.
Right after the description of those who go “all in” to reject Christ by taking the mark of the beast, the scene shifts to those who have been marked by the Name of Christ—who have “CHRISTIAN” written across their foreheads for all the world to see! The reference in verse 4 to “not being defiled with women” is not merely a statement of sexual purity—it is meant to symbolize the spiritual immorality of verse 8, “Babylon the great, she who made all the nations drink the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality). We will see a bit later on in our study that this may very well be a reference to Israel in the Old Testament, who was meant to bring all nations into the worship of YHWH, but who instead “whored after the gods of the peoples of the land” (1 Chronicles 5:25; cp. Judges 8:33, 27; 2:17). The followers of the Lamb, however, are not characterized by “cheating on God” with false idols—instead, their joy in the Lamb’s presence is characterized by
An endless song of purity (Rev. 14:1-5)
An endless song of purity (Rev. 14:1-5)
They have been washed of their guilt and shame by the Blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ. They sing the song of being redeemed—and it is a song that the angels can’t sing, because the angels have never experienced forgiveness of sin! (It’s interesting to note in verse 6, when the angel flies across the whole earth proclaiming the Gospel, it declares the Gospel in terms of fearing God and glorifying Him for His righteous judgment—which we can only do when we have been redeemed from our sin!)
Think of the joy that will be yours in Heaven, Christian, when you can sing this song of purity and righteousness and redemption through the blood of Christ, and all of the heavenly host listening in rapt fascination to a song that they can never learn! They will marvel at you as you sing that endless song of purity before the Lamb, and your song will cause them to reach heights of love and worship and adoration of Christ that their own unfallen souls could never reach otherwise!
Those who have been sealed with the Name of Christ may be on the “wrong side of history” here on earth, but will be on the right side of eternity in the endless song of purity they sing in the presence of the Lamb! And further down in verse 13 we read another promise of that eternal joy:
The blessing of Sabbath rest (Rev. 14:13)
The blessing of Sabbath rest (Rev. 14:13)
in the presence of the Lamb!
And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!”
The Greek word John uses here in verse 13, translated “labors”, comes from a root word that means “beating the breast” in sorrow and travail. This promise doesn’t just mean that in Heaven Christians don’t have to get up for work on Monday mornings anymore—this is a promise that all of the agonizing, troublesome toil and hardship of living in this broken world and all of the daily warfare against the sin that attacks us will be over forever!
Christian—you can endure in obedience to God and hold fast in your faith in Christ in the midst of all of this wicked upheaval because your rest is coming! The day is coming when you can rest from the toil of the hatreds, the persecutions, the taunts and slander of a culture that hates you because it hates Christ—the day is coming when you will have rest forever from this warfare! The blood of the martyrs under the altar in Revelation 6 cried out for vengeance—and here in Chapter 14 they are told that they can now rest, because their vindication has come!
And the promise here in this verse says that the saints can rest from their labors because their deeds follow them—the works they have done in Christ will follow them into eternity. Christian, you can hold fast with steadfast obedience here on earth because you have this promise that everything you have ever done or tried to do in the name of Christ—every time you shared the Gospel, every time you prayed with a hurting soul, every time you responded to slander and betrayal at work with Christlike compassion and kindness, every time you sacrificed yourself for the sake of loving your children, every act of serving God’s people here at Bethel—all of it—will follow you into eternity, to be a crown of glory and honor and joy for you as your Savior speaks those precious words, “Well done, good and faithful servant! Enter into the joy of your Lord!”
In light of these great and precious promises, Christian (which only scratch the surface of the glory that will be revealed to you in Heaven!), how could you possibly care at all about being “on the wrong side of history”? Stand fast in obedience and faith, beloved, because you have the promise that in Christ you are on the right side of eternity!
The great and precious promises for faithful obedience that we see here in Revelation 14 are a powerful call to enduring obedience in light of our eternal reward in the presence of the Lamb, Jesus Christ. But just as there are great and precious promises for those who bear the name of Christ on their foreheads, this chapter also holds terrifying and hideous promises for those who refuse to submit to Him. The saints have the promise of eternal joy in the presence of the Lamb, but the wicked are promised
II. The eternal horror in the presence of the Lamb
II. The eternal horror in the presence of the Lamb
Look at verses 9-10:
And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.
Where the saints are promised an endless song of joy in the presence of the Lamb, the wicked are promised
An endless cup of wrath (Rev. 14:9-10)
An endless cup of wrath (Rev. 14:9-10)
in the presence of the Lamb. Verse 10 says that the wine of God’s wrath will be poured “full strength” (ESV) or “unmixed” in the King James. In ancient times people would cut their wine with some water, sometimes adding spices to give extra flavor to make up for the diluting water. And in the same way, we see here in this present age that the wrath of God is “diluted” with a measure of His common grace—the rain falls on the just and the unjust, God’s forbearance to give time for the wicked to come to repentance (Rom. 2:4). As fiercely as the wrath of God has ever fallen on an individual or a nation throughout human history, it has always been “cut” by the mercy of God—but on that day, the full strength of the uncut wrath of God will fall on those who have rejected Christ. There will be no more mercy, no more kindness, no more forbearance, no more “second chances”—the wrath of Jesus Christ against them on that day will be an eternal nightmare from which they will never be able to wake up.
The saints are promised the blessing of eternal Sabbath rest from their agonizing labor in eternity—but the wicked are promised
The curse of unresting torment (Rev. 14:11)
The curse of unresting torment (Rev. 14:11)
Verse 11 says
And the smoke of their torment goes up forever 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.”
Those who utterly reject the reign of Jesus Christ, who go “all in” to oppose Him and curse Him and swear allegiance against Him will enjoy a few decades of being (as they consider) on the “right side of history”. But the Scriptures solemnly warn here that they are at risk of being on the wrong side of eternity. The imagery of judgment here comes from images of God’s judgment in the Old Testament, such as Psalm 11:6:
Let him rain coals on the wicked; fire and sulfur and a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup.
And you hear people treat a warning like this as a joke—that “fire and brimstone” preaching is a quaint, silly old superstition. And even those who are more respectable in their unbelief will say, “Well, these images of “fire and brimstone” are only symbols of a spiritual reality, don’t you see? It’s not like there really is a physical place where people will burn in fire and sulphur forever.
Now, these verses are either symbolic or real. If they are real, that would be bad enough. But there’s no comfort in saying that these descriptions are only symbolic—because symbols are always less than the reality they symbolize, aren’t they? I wear a wedding ring as a symbol of my marriage—but does that mean that my marriage is less than a band of 14 karat gold around my left ring finger? Beloved, symbols always represent something GREATER than themselves! Something more real, something bigger! There is no comfort for you to say that the eternal torment of fire and sulphur promised to those on the wrong side of eternity are “only” symbols—the reality is far worse than those symbols can contain.
Revelation 14 calls us to enduring obedience in light of our eternal reward—the reward of eternal joy in the presence of the Lamb, or the reward of eternal horror in the presence of the Lamb. And the rest of the chapter reminds us that that day of judgment is coming for each one of us. Verses 14-20 describe for us
III. The coming harvest in the presence of the Lamb (Rev. 14:14-20)
III. The coming harvest in the presence of the Lamb (Rev. 14:14-20)
Look at verses 14-16:
Then I looked, and behold, 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. And another angel came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, “Put in your sickle, and reap, for the hour to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is fully ripe.” So he who sat on the cloud swung his sickle across the earth, and the earth was reaped.
Jesus Christ, the Son of Man seated on the clouds of His authority and wearing the crown of His universal reign, reaches down to the earth to do what He promised in Matthew 13:30, when He reaps the wheat of His people into His barn and burns the weeds that have grown among them. He reaches down from His throne and sweeps His sickle over the fields for
The rescue of His saints (Matt. 13:30)
The rescue of His saints (Matt. 13:30)
Separated once and for all from the “weeds” of false professors of Christianity, separated once and for all from the temptations to compromise and give in to the pressure of the world all around them, Christ reaches down into the world and rescues every last one of His people! At the beginning of the chapter we see that the 144,000 have all appeared in Heaven before Him—every single one that was sealed by His blood has been brought safely home—He doesn’t lose a single soul that He has saved!
But right after the wheat harvest of the rescue of the saints into eternal joy in His presence, another sickle sweeps over the land—the sickle of
The ruin of the wicked (Rev. 14:17-20)
The ruin of the wicked (Rev. 14:17-20)
Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. And another angel came out from the altar, the angel who has authority over the fire, and he called with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, “Put in your sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, for its grapes are ripe.” So the angel swung his sickle across the earth and gathered the grape harvest of the earth and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress, as high as a horse’s bridle, for 1,600 stadia.
Just as Christ gathered His people in at the great harvest of the righteous, so we see another harvest—this time a harvest of a vineyard full of grapes. Remember that throughout the Old Testament the people of Israel were represented as God’s vineyard. Isaiah 5 describes Israel as a “vineyard on a fertile hill” that God planted and watered and tended—but it produced “wild grapes” (literally, “the stench of death”). And in Matthew 21:33-44, Jesus tells the chief priests and scribes of Israel the story of the faithless vineyard workers who murdered the son of the vineyard owner when he came to claim his authority over them.
And so what I think is in view here is the description of the destruction of the faithless vineyard of Jerusalem in A.D. 70—instead of the pure fruit of repentance and faith, Israel had produced the rotten grapes of the stench of death and wickedness. And so those grapes are harvested and thrown into the winepress of God’s wrath. And instead of wine coming out the other side, the winepress produced blood—enough blood to flow four feet deep for 183 miles! Since the number 40 is a number representing judgment in the Bible (40 days and nights of the Flood, 40 years of wandering in the wilderness), and the number 1600 is 40 times 40, what I think is in view here is the wrath of God multiplied by the wrath of God! Again—if this is a picture of reality, it is bad enough. But if this picture is a symbol of the multiplied wrath of God falling on Jerusalem and on those who have sworn allegiance against Christ, it is far worse!
And what a horrible fate it is will be on that day for those who, like that generation of Israel that murdered the Messiah, were convinced that they were producing righteous fruit, but who were storing up the fruit of death against themselves! Jesus warns us about that day in Matthew 7:21-23
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
That day of the harvest is coming for each and every person in this room. Every last one of us will someday stand in the presence of the Lamb seated on His throne, and will answer for what we have done:
Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.
Christian, look at the marvelous promises of eternal joy that are set before you in this chapter, and set yourself to faithful obedience, keeping the commands of God and your faith in Jesus Christ! Someday your agonizing, mourning labors in this dark world will be over, and you will find rest. Someday the hatred and taunts and attacks and slanders that land on you every day will cease. The day is coming—closer every minute!—when you will no longer struggle with deceit and false pretenses or half-truths, but will be free forever from the sin that tempts you to hide yourself with lies and self-justifications, because you will have put on the robes of Christ’s blamelessness for all eternity! So stand, Christian—be faithful, hold on to the end in light of the eternal joy that you are promised in the presence of the Lamb!
And if you are here this morning apart from Christ, if you have been living a life that refuses to submit to Him, if you are happy to take on the marks of rebellion against Him and rejection of His mercy, can’t you see the horror that awaits you in these verses? Go ahead and snicker at the “hellfire and brimstone” preacher—but the day will come when you will remember this moment, and you will plead with God for repentance, but it will be too late, because His mercy and grace and love will be withdrawn from you forever. On that day and for all eternity, Jesus Christ will be absent from you in every way that you want Him to be present—absent in His love, absent in His compassion, absent in His mercy or grace—and He will be present in every way that you wish Him to be absent—eternally and unendingly present in His wrath and judgment and hatred and rage. You will exist for all eternity in a nightmare of horror and agony and terror from which you will never wake up—and all because you would rather have been “on the right side of history” for a few decades.
And for you who sit here secure in your self-justification that you and God are “cool” because you “try to be a good person”, you who outwardly say all the right Christian sentences and have all the right responses to spiritual questions, and who enjoy the intellectual pursuit of reading the Bible and studying theology—but who, deep down, believe that you don’t have anything to “repent” of, and that there are parts of your life and pieces of your affections that Jesus has no business interfering with—let me plead with you, don’t find yourself on the wrong side of eternity today!
If your Christian faith is something that is “just one part of who you are”, and you can easily divide yourself into your “Christian” identity when you are with one group and your “normal identity” with everyone else, then you need to think carefully about what you think it means to be a Christian at all! Because if you hold that name so lightly that you will happily re-define it in whatever way will allow you to stay “on the right side of history” this morning, you are demonstrating your true allegiance to the spirit of this age. And when the harvest comes someday, you will reap what you have sown—not the good fruit of faithful obedience, but the rotten stench of corruption and death. And the Lord you thought was “cool” with your halfhearted allegiance and qualified obedience will look at you as if He has never seen you before in His life.
If you have read this chapter today and listened to this sermon and you are not absolutely, 100 percent positive that you are on the “right side of eternity”, come and talk to us down front right after the end of the service. Let us answer your questions, let us pray for you, let us do whatever we can so that you will know that you know that you know that you are on the right side of eternity, and that you will spend it forever with eternal joy in the presence of the Lamb, Jesus Christ!
BENEDICTION
Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.
QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION:
QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION:
What do people mean when they say that Christians who refuse to abandon what God’s Word says are “on the wrong side of history”? What does this chapter tell us about the consequences of refusing to repent and believe the Gospel?
What do people mean when they say that Christians who refuse to abandon what God’s Word says are “on the wrong side of history”? What does this chapter tell us about the consequences of refusing to repent and believe the Gospel?
What does it mean to “wear the name of the Lamb on your forehead” (Rev. 14:1)? If your friends and acquaintances were asked to give a definition of a “Christian” based on how you live your life before them, what would they say?
What does it mean to “wear the name of the Lamb on your forehead” (Rev. 14:1)? If your friends and acquaintances were asked to give a definition of a “Christian” based on how you live your life before them, what would they say?
How is the harvest of the wheat in Revelation 14:15-16 different from the harvest of the grapes in verses 19-20? What does a “vineyard” represent in the Bible? How does God’s judgment on the generation of Israel that murdered the Messiah serve as a warning to those who outwardly follow Christ but inwardly reject His authority over them?
How is the harvest of the wheat in Revelation 14:15-16 different from the harvest of the grapes in verses 19-20? What does a “vineyard” represent in the Bible? How does God’s judgment on the generation of Israel that murdered the Messiah serve as a warning to those who outwardly follow Christ but inwardly reject His authority over them?
Who in your life is in danger of finding themselves “on the wrong side of eternity”? Write their name at the bottom of this page, and commit to pray every day this week that you will have an opportunity to share the Gospel with them. Use the “Simply Sharing Jesus” guide on the back table to help you prepare.
Who in your life is in danger of finding themselves “on the wrong side of eternity”? Write their name at the bottom of this page, and commit to pray every day this week that you will have an opportunity to share the Gospel with them. Use the “Simply Sharing Jesus” guide on the back table to help you prepare.