Revelation 12–14 are all part of the same cycle of visions. And this cycle of visions is almost certainly rehearsing the same events as the cycle of visions about the seven seals in Revelation 6 and 7 and the cycle of visions about the seven trumpets in Revelation 8 and 9.
In Revelation 12, John gives this kind of massive, sort of 30,000-foot view of what is happening under the curtain of history: the great spiritual war between the true King, the Lamb, and the false usurper serpent king, the dragon, the serpent. And then in Revelation 13, it zooms in and focuses on one particular aspect of how that plays out. It looks at the way that the serpent’s war on the Lamb and His people plays out in the political sphere and the economic sphere.
And now in Revelation 14, it is zooming in even closer. And it’s focusing on an even more specific aspect of the story. It’s focusing on what the battle looks like, how the great spiritual war plays out in the flesh-and-blood, day-to-day reality that we live in as God’s people.
But just like always, it presents all these things in the form of apocalyptic visions that strike us as very strange and confusing because we are so far removed from the culture and the context in which ancient Jewish apocalyptic literature was normal and common and immediately recognizable.
But they would immediately have recognized it and known exactly what these visions were getting at.
The Battle Between Two Cities
The first thing that we need to talk about is the battle between two cities, for lack of a better word.
John’s vision essentially paints the people of God as one city over here. And it paints the people and the empires and the rulers and the false religious systems that rebellious humanity builds under the influence of the serpent as an opposing city. And it paints these two cities as being at war with each other.
The vision specifically paints God’s kingdom people as Mount Zion over against the false kingdom of the serpent as Babylon or the beast. So there’s the city at the base of Mount Zion. There’s the true Jerusalem. And then there is the city waging war on the Lord and His people: Babylon.
Revelation 14:1 says:
“Then I saw, and behold, the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with him one hundred forty-four thousand, having his name, and the name of his Father, written on their foreheads.” — Revelation 14:1, WEB
Essentially, he sets up this running imagery that in every generation the kingdom of the Lamb is kind of figuratively represented by Zion or Mount Zion or Jerusalem or Israel. And when we move into the New Testament, all these images and pieces of language and place names and stuff like that are applied not only to the literal nation of ancient Israel from the Old Testament, but to the church itself.
Everyone who is a follower of King Jesus becomes part of Israel, so to speak. You become part of the true Jerusalem, the true Mount Zion. You become part of the kingdom of the Lamb.
And in every generation, the empires and rulers and false religious powers that oppose the Lord and attack, deceive, draw away, and derail His people are kind of figuratively represented as the beast or Babylon.
During the time of the seven churches in the first century when John was writing this, the current form that the beast and Babylon took was the Roman Empire and the Roman emperor, the imperial cult that the Roman Empire ran on that required everyone to worship Caesar as Lord and God, Savior, bringer of peace, and to worship the empire itself.
The Defeated People of God Stand Victorious
In chapter 13, we saw that God’s people are defeated by the beast, that countless of God’s people are arrested and tortured and killed by the beast. And it looks as if it is over for God’s people, God’s family, God’s kingdom.
It looks as if the beast has won.
And therefore, the serpent has won.
And yet, the very next image is the just-defeated people of God standing next to the Lamb on Mount Zion, ready for war.
Just moments after appearing to be defeated, the King stands enthroned over all things.
This is once again drawing from Psalm 2.
The King on Mount Zion
Psalm 2 was a prophetic psalm that looked forward to the coming of the Messiah, the God-promised One who would undo the fall, unbreak the world, put everything right again, who would redeem humanity and restore all things when He takes up His throne in its fullness.
Psalm 2:6–9 says:
“Yet I have set my King on my holy hill of Zion. I will tell of the decree: Yahweh said to me, ‘You are my son. Today I have become your father. Ask of me, and I will give the nations for your inheritance, the uttermost parts of the earth for your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron. You shall dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.’” — Psalm 2:6–9, WEB
That essentially says this Messiah is going to inherit all the nations of the earth, all the families of the earth, all the peoples of the earth. Everyone who persists in rebelling against the Messiah all the way to the end will be broken and dashed into pieces.
But everyone who submits to the Messiah as King, worships the Messiah as God, throws themselves on His mercy as their Savior, will be gathered into His kingdom in perfect joy for all eternity.
The Nations Gather at Mount Zion
God takes that image and fleshes it out even more in Isaiah chapter 2 and Micah chapter 4. He paints this really beautiful picture of the nations that used to rebel against the Lord, the nations that used to reject and oppose Him, that used to run from Him, now gathering around Mount Zion in worship.
They gather around the Lord and His people.
They join His people in pouring out their joyful worship at the foot of His throne.
Isaiah 2:2–3 says:
“It shall happen in the latter days, that the mountain of Yahweh’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; and all nations shall flow to it. Many peoples shall go and say, ‘Come, let’s go up to Yahweh’s mountain, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths.’ For out of Zion the law shall go out, and Yahweh’s word from Jerusalem.” — Isaiah 2:2–3, WEB
Micah 4:1–2 repeats that almost word for word.
And then through the prophet Joel, the Lord takes that same image and fleshes it out even further. He paints this image of the nations pouring into Mount Zion, coming before God’s throne, letting go of their sin, abandoning their rebellion, giving themselves to Him, and being redeemed and restored.
Joel 2:32 says:
“It will happen that whoever will call on Yahweh’s name shall be saved; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be those who escape, as Yahweh has said, and among the remnant, those whom Yahweh calls.” — Joel 2:32, WEB
And then in Joel 3:16–17:
“Yahweh will roar from Zion, and thunder from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth will shake; but Yahweh will be a refuge to his people, and a stronghold to the children of Israel. So you will know that I am Yahweh, your God, dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain. Then Jerusalem will be holy, and no strangers will pass through her any more.” — Joel 3:16–17, WEB
In this vision, God’s people are gathered with Him around Mount Zion, and He has become their stronghold. He has become their refuge. He has become their dwelling, and they will never again be ravaged by enemies, attacked by the serpent or the people under his influence.
He protects the children of Israel.
And yet when Joel delivers this prophecy, if we’ve been paying attention, we know that the children of Israel does not just mean Jewish believers.
It means everyone who has called on the name of the Lord to be saved from every tribe and tongue and nation.
The Nations Become the People of God
And in the context of this series of visions about God gathering the nations to Himself on top of Mount Zion, we know that that means this includes all of the people from the surrounding pagan nations who have walked away from their false worship of false gods and have embraced the true worship of the true God.
All of the people who once worshiped the beast in whatever form that took during their generation, who now have left behind the beast and have come to the Lamb.
And so in verse 1 of chapter 14, John’s vision is showing us an image of what is ultimately coming, where all of this is ultimately headed.
And we have access to experience this reality as a kind of foretaste right here and right now.
Because in Hebrews 12:22, the author of Hebrews says that all of these things that this Mount Zion vision from the prophets is pointing towards already belong to anyone who believes.
Hebrews 12:22–23 says:
“But you have come to Mount Zion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable multitudes of angels, to the general assembly and assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect.” — Hebrews 12:22–23, WEB
In other words, if you are a follower of Jesus, if you have come to King Jesus in faith and repentance, then there is a sense in which you are already gathered around the mountain of the Lord.
You are already gathered into His kingdom and His family and His covenant and His people.
You are already enjoying a foretaste of His presence.
You are already being sanctified and made complete by the Holy Spirit.
You have already been rescued from condemnation and marked by the Lamb and will one day be glorified with Him in all of eternity.
The 144,000 Gathered for War
And so you are part of the 144,000 that are gathered around Him on the mountain in this vision prepared for war.
And as you go out to do battle, what you are doing in the battle is gathering more and more and more of the people from the nations, from rebellious humanity who reject and oppose the Lord, who run from the Lord, who follow the voice of the serpent and walk in step with Babylon, with the beast in its current form, to introduce them to the God who wants to redeem and restore them so that they can be gathered into God’s family and kingdom and covenant with you.
And when you do that, when they respond in faith and repentance, they become part of that 144,000 that is gathered around the mountain with the Lord.
The point is not that there is a literal mountain that God literally sets up shop on and literally gathers a multitude around Himself. The point is the spiritual reality that this represents.
The point is not that there were literally 144,000 specific people gathered with Him on the mountain. The point is the spiritual reality that it represents.
The point is not that there was literally a physical war. The point is the spiritual war that it represents, and on and on and on.
Now, there could absolutely be a literal mountain gathering with God and His people. There could absolutely be a literal physical flesh-and-blood war of some sort in the end between people who follow Jesus and people who follow the beast in its final form.
That is absolutely possible.
That would fit perfectly fine into the story.
And yet, those are not the points that this is making here.
The point that Revelation 14 is making is that all of the horrific things that we have seen playing out in Revelation 12 and 13 ultimately lead to the final victory of the true King, the Lamb, over the false king, the serpent.
And we see that in the rest of chapter 14, because from here John zooms in even closer and breaks down what that looks like.
The big picture is that in all of this, God’s people wage war on the serpent and win.
Who Are the 144,000?
John says that with the Lord were 144,000 who have His name and the name of His Father on their foreheads.
So this vision is picking up the same image from Revelation 7:4 when John says:
“I heard the number of those who were sealed, one hundred forty-four thousand, sealed out of every tribe of the children of Israel.” — Revelation 7:4, WEB
When you read this in context, it is not talking about 144,000 literal ethnic Jews.
John goes out of his way to word this to make it absolutely clear that he is not literally talking about a bunch of ethnic Jews. Some of the people in this multitude are Jewish. Some of the people in this multitude are Gentiles. Some of the people in this multitude are all different kinds of things because this multitude represents the entire people of God.
So number one, this is not literally a giant multitude of ethnic Jews.
Number two, this is not just a group of special missionaries during the end times. This is the entire people of God carrying out His mission and sealed by the Lamb throughout all of time and especially the period between the coming of Jesus and His victorious return.
And number three, this is not literally 144,000.
That is not very many.
That number 144,000 is a really common, well-known apocalyptic image in the first century that first-century Christians and the seven churches in particular would immediately have recognized because they were familiar with the norms and the conventions and the language of ancient Jewish apocalyptic literature.
Twelve Times Twelve Times a Thousand
The 144,000 number essentially means the number 12, as in the twelve tribes of Israel. So, all of ancient Israel, all of Abraham’s descendants who follow Jesus, times 12 once again, as in the twelve apostles, all of the church, all of the people from every tribe and tongue and nation, Jew or Gentile, who follow Jesus, times 1,000, which was the number they would use to describe a military unit.
It wasn’t always literally 1,000.
It was kind of a general catch-all number.
This is a massive military unit made up of all of God’s people, both Jew and Gentile, both descended from the twelve tribes of Israel and gathered by the twelve apostles and their descendants.
And so the vision here is the Lord on top of the mountain surrounded by all of His people through all of time and space, through all of history, in battle formation, ready for war.
“They Were Not Defiled With Women”
John’s vision actually digs even deeper into that military metaphor in Revelation 14:4.
It says:
“These are those who were not defiled with women, for they are virgins.” — Revelation 14:4, WEB
And that’s a really strange verse.
But again, if you were steeped in ancient Near Eastern apocalyptic literature like the Christians in the seven churches were, then this would actually have been immediately recognizable and not confusing at all.
As strange as it sounds to us today, when John’s vision says they were not defiled with women, it is not saying that women literally defile men. And when it says that they are virgins, the point is not that they are literally celibate.
The point is not that sex literally defiles you.
That is not how they saw things.
Read the rest of the Bible. It’s very clear that sex is a good thing, not a bad thing.
So what is it talking about?
Preparing for Holy War
It’s talking about the extremely common ancient Near Eastern custom of abstaining from sex before you go to war, specifically before you carry out holy war.
When the Lord sent the small, weak tribes of Israelites out to go conquer a stronger, larger enemy with more resources and power, it was called holy war. It was called herem. The larger, more powerful enemy that had more resources was devoted to destruction. That’s what the word herem means, so to speak.
So, like when they go fight against Jericho in the book of Joshua, He was sending them out on a holy war.
And when you would go out to wage holy war at the direction of the Lord, you essentially treated it as a worship ritual or a worship ceremony.
You would ritually purify yourself before going out to battle.
And part of that process is that you would abstain from sex.
And so essentially, this is an image of all of God’s people preparing for holy war, ritually purifying themselves in advance of the battle.
Spiritual Adultery
And at exactly the same time, there’s another important image stacked on top of this that they would immediately have recognized because they were steeped in ancient Jewish apocalyptic literature and beyond.
And that is that throughout God’s Word and especially throughout the apocalyptic literature that was inspired by God’s Word, idolatry was described as prostitution or adultery.
If you worshiped other gods, they referred to it as whoring after other gods.
If you walked away from the true God and you took up the gods of the nations, the Lord essentially said, you’re committing spiritual adultery.
He used the language of sexual sin to describe worshiping false gods.
And in the same way here throughout Revelation, we see that when people worship the beast in whatever form it takes, He describes it as sleeping with the great prostitute, getting in bed with the beast, committing adultery with Babylon.
Compromising with the imperial cult by worshiping Caesar to keep from being persecuted, worshiping the false gods of Rome to keep from being attacked, is spiritual adultery.
It is defiling yourself with women.
Not literal.
It’s just a saying.
But it is no different than if you were married and you went and visited a prostitute while your wife was out.
Ready for Battle
And so this is an image of the people of God gathered around the mountain of the Lord ready for battle.
And they have rejected and resisted and fled from the temptation to go commit spiritual adultery by just giving the beast what it wants.
Just worshiping the empire, worshiping the emperor, worshiping the beast in whatever form it takes in future generations.
Though metaphorically speaking, they have ritually purified themselves and they’re ready to go carry out holy war.
And now in Revelation 14, we’re going to see them actually go to war and win.
The 144,000 Through Revelation
And so there’s a kind of structure that you can see if you follow the theme of the 144,000 through Revelation.
In Revelation 7, we see God’s people sealed by the Lamb, prepared to suffer.
In Revelation 13, we see the same image of the 144,000, but we see it from a different angle, and we see the beast actually waging war on the 144,000 and pouring out that suffering that the Lord has prepared them for.
And now in Revelation 14, we see the 144,000 standing victorious alongside the Lamb because through their suffering, they have overcome the beast.
And as a result, it says they sang a victory song.
The New Song of Victory
Revelation 14:3 says:
“They sing a new song before the throne, and before the four living creatures and the elders. No one could learn the song except the one hundred forty-four thousand, those who had been redeemed out of the earth.” — Revelation 14:3, WEB
This is beautiful because this vision is picking up the language of Exodus 15 and Psalm 96 and so many other stops along the way.
And it’s now painting this picture of the final victory of the Lord over the serpent.
Exodus 15:1 says:
“Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to Yahweh, and said, ‘I will sing to Yahweh, for he has triumphed gloriously. The horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.’” — Exodus 15:1, WEB
This was right after the Exodus.
They’ve just been delivered from slavery to Pharaoh and Egypt and brought safely through the sea. And they stop and they sing a song of victory.
They declare that the Lord has triumphed over their enemy, Pharaoh and Egypt.
He has redeemed them and will restore them.
The Final Pharaoh Is Defeated
And now in John’s vision, all of God’s people are gathered around Mount Zion with the Lord singing a song of victory just like the one the Israelites sang in Exodus 15.
Except now the final Pharaoh has been defeated by the Lord.
The final Egypt has been defeated by the Lord.
The beast is done.
Babylon is done.
And even more than that, the serpent who has raised up every Pharaoh, every Egypt, every Caesar, every Rome, every beast, every Babylon throughout history is fully and finally and forever defeated.
Our ultimate enemy is done.
Not because we were strong enough to overcome him, but because the Lord triumphed over him, for us and through us.
The Song Belongs to the Redeemed
This is the same kind of thing we see happening in Revelation 5:9 when it says they sang a new song:
“You are worthy to take the book, and to open its seals: for you were killed, and bought us for God with your blood, out of every tribe, language, people, and nation.” — Revelation 5:9, WEB
That vision has all of God’s people through all of space and time gathered around the throne of the Lord pouring out our worship on Him in the form of a victory song for all of eternity.
And here in Revelation 14, it says the same kind of thing.
We are singing out a victory song.
But it says something beautiful.
It says, “No one could learn the song except the 144,000.”
In other words, the victory song belongs to God’s people.
This victory that the song points to belongs to anyone who has come to King Jesus, the Lamb, in faith and repentance because when we come to Him, He delivers us.
He rescues us.
He redeems us.
He begins the process of restoring us.
He will one day glorify us.
And He works through us to overcome the serpent and the beast.
Suffering Into Victory
He brings us through this long season of tribulation, this long season of wilderness.
And He brings us to victory through our tribulation, through our suffering in the wilderness, through our persecution and even death at the hands of the beast and Babylon and rebellious humanity.
And so learning the new song of victory essentially is sharing the victory by receiving the redemption that the Lord has purchased for us on the cross and then being given the profound gift of suffering into victory in this great spiritual war.
That is the most shocking thing about the book of Revelation.
We get so distracted by how strange these unfamiliar images and terms are that we miss the big picture of the point that it’s actually making.
But the point that it’s actually making is so much more shocking than any of the seemingly weird or scary stuff that usually captures our attention in Revelation.
Because the big running thing through all of it is essentially that God’s people win this great spiritual war by the power of the Holy Spirit working in us to be faithful amidst suffering.
That is how we win.
“They Follow the Lamb Wherever He Goes”
I love the way that John puts this.
Revelation 14:4 says:
“These are those who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These were redeemed by Jesus from among men, the first fruits to God and to the Lamb.” — Revelation 14:4, WEB
He uses that really important word here.
He says these 144,000 are the first fruits.
That term first fruits was an agricultural term in the ancient Near East. It’s the first part of the harvest, the first sprouts that begin to come out, the first kind of reaping that you see after a long period of sowing and planting.
When you see these first fruits, you know the seeds actually took.
The harvest is actually going to come.
It actually worked.
The first fruits tell you that the rest of the harvest is coming.
The First Wave of Redeemed Humanity
And so it says these 144,000 gathered around the mountain of the Lord in this vision, they are the first wave of redeemed humanity.
In a sense, they are the beginning of the process.
The people of God, both Jew and Gentile, ready for battle, heading out to go wage war on the serpent.
They are the first fruits, but they are only the beginning.
The rest of the harvest is still there to be gathered.
And as they go out and wage war by introducing rebellious humanity to this redeeming and restoring God, calling them lovingly to repentance, drawing them to the Lord so that they come in repentance and faith, the harvest grows and it grows and it grows.
The end result is not a tiny group being saved and everyone else being destroyed.
The end result is that a multitude beyond anything we can ever imagine comes to saving faith in the Lord as the end draws nearer and nearer, as the war rages on and on, as we go out, proclaim the truth, and accept suffering and persecution with love as we do it.
No Lie Was Found in Their Mouths
And we see that on an even deeper level in Revelation 14:5.
It says:
“In their mouth was found no lie, for they are blameless.” — Revelation 14:5, WEB
It’s actually a quote from Isaiah 53 when it says that the coming Messiah is unique because there was no deceit in His mouth.
In other words, the people of God who are sent out to wage war on the serpent and win are a reflection of the Messiah Himself.
God’s people on mission look like the Lamb.
The suffering Servant has made us into suffering servants like Him.
He has made us honest like He is honest.
He’s made us gentle like He is gentle.
He’s made us peaceful like He is peaceful.
He’s made us loving like He is loving.
We are waging war on the serpent in a world that is driven by falsehood and lies poured out by the serpent.
And yet we are driven by the truth and radically honest.
Becoming Like the Lamb
We see that in the verse right before that.
Revelation 14:4 says they follow the Lamb wherever He goes.
The people of God gather around the mountain with the Lord to go out and wage war on the serpent, and it says that we do that as kind of walking images of the Lord, walking images of the Lamb.
We have become like the One we follow.
The Lamb has shown us what it looks like to be faithful.
And now we follow after His example in faithfulness.
He’s shown us what it’s like to be obedient to the Lord.
And now we follow His example of obedience.
He’s shown us what it’s like to be self-giving for the sake of the Lord and for the sake of others.
And now we follow His example of self-givingness.
He’s shown us what it looks like to accept suffering for the sake of God’s kingdom.
And now we follow His example of suffering for God’s kingdom.
He’s shown us what it looks like to be willing to go all the way to death for the sake of God’s mission.
And now we follow His example by going to death.
Everything that is true about the Lamb becomes true about us as He changes us from the inside, with the one very important exception that we do not become God.
But He molds us into beautiful reflections of His goodness and His glory that the lost world cannot help but be drawn to.
The Eternal Gospel Goes to Everyone
And in this context, we then go out and invite all the people who worship the beast to repent and join the Lamb.
Revelation 14:6–7 says:
“I saw an angel flying in mid heaven, having an eternal Good News to proclaim to those who dwell on the earth, and to every nation, tribe, language, and people. He said with a loud voice, ‘Fear the Lord, and give him glory, for the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and the springs of waters!’” — Revelation 14:6–7, WEB
So in this vision, the angel proclaims the gospel to all of humanity.
Everyone.
Everywhere.
Period.
And that includes everyone who is marked by the beast.
Remember, being marked by the beast has nothing to do with a literal mark on your forehead or your hand. It has nothing to do with a microchip or a vaccine or anything about some future technology.
The mark of the beast literally just means you worship the beast.
You follow the beast.
So the angel proclaims the gospel to everyone, including everyone who currently worships the beast.
You Can Leave the Beast and Come to the Lamb
No matter what nation you are from, what tribe you are from, what language you speak, what people group you’re part of, no matter what your past is, no matter what you’ve done, no matter how many Christians you have killed out of obedience to the beast, the gospel is proclaimed to you.
You are invited to turn from the beast.
You are invited to join the Lamb.
You are invited to escape the condemnation that will come when the judgment arrives.
We proclaim that the beast will be destroyed.
But you do not have to be destroyed with him.
God still wants you.
He still loves you.
And He will welcome you if you come to Him in faith and repentance.
Babylon Is Destroyed
And as a result, two things happen.
First, Babylon is destroyed.
The beast is destroyed.
And everyone who continues to align with the beast is destroyed along with him.
Everyone who continues to align with Babylon is destroyed along with it, condemned along with them in the final judgment.
Revelation 14:8 says:
“Another, a second angel, followed, saying, ‘Babylon the great has fallen, which has made all the nations to drink of the wine of the wrath of her sexual immorality.’” — Revelation 14:8, WEB
Now remember, Babylon was an image that they used throughout the Old Testament and throughout ancient Jewish literature, and especially apocalyptic literature in general, to describe any wicked empire, wicked ruler, wicked system of power that opposes the Lord and attacks His people.
But in the first century, they specifically referred to Rome as Babylon because Rome was the current form that this recurring tool of the serpent took.
Rome was the current form of the serpent’s tactic of raising up wicked rulers and empires to oppose the Lord and oppress God’s people.
That’s why in 1 Peter 5:13, Peter explicitly identifies Rome as Babylon. He mentions the believers in Rome as the believers in Babylon.
And so the Roman Empire was the form Babylon took during the time Revelation was written.
But in each new generation, some form of Babylon, some form of the beast, rises up to oppose the Lord and attack His people.
Sometimes more than one.
Sometimes there are more than one beasts, more than one Babylons at the same time.
“Babylon Is Fallen”
But it says:
“Babylon has fallen.”
And when it says that, it’s actually essentially directly quoting Isaiah 21:9.
The Lord says:
“Behold, here comes a troop of men, horsemen in pairs.” He answered, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen; and all the engraved images of her gods are broken to the ground.” — Isaiah 21:9, WEB
Now, when Isaiah wrote that, it was literally a prophecy that the ancient nation Babylon that had captured God’s people and was holding them captive would be brought down one day.
But it also pointed forward beyond that.
It also pointed toward the fact that Babylon will always ultimately fall in whatever form it takes and that one day there will be no more Babylons because the serpent who keeps raising up and empowering the Babylons of the world will be defeated and overthrown.
We see that same thing happening in Jeremiah 51.
The Tragedy of Final Judgment
The most tragic thing in the entire book immediately after this is that it says everyone who is still aligned with the beast is destroyed with him.
This is the most tragic thing in the entire book of Revelation.
It says that when the end finally comes, everyone who has persisted in aligning with the beast, with Babylon, will be destroyed with them.
That when the end comes, the time to turn away will be over.
Now, we don’t know exactly what that is going to look like.
We don’t know exactly how that is going to work.
But there is going to be a point where there is no more time to repent.
There’s going to be a point where the opportunity has passed.
And if you have continued to reject and oppose and rebel against the true King, Jesus, the Lamb, all the way to the very end, then you will be destroyed with Babylon and the beast.
Revelation 14:9–11 says:
“Another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, ‘If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead, or on his hand, he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is prepared unmixed in the cup of his anger. He will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb. The smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever. They have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.’” — Revelation 14:9–11, WEB
Essentially, what is happening here is that with the Lamb’s victory, everyone who has persisted in rebelling against Him all the way to the very end is gathered up for the judgment of condemnation.
The Winepress of the Wrath of God
Revelation 14:17–20 says:
“Another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven. He also had a sharp sickle. Another angel came out from the altar, he who has power over fire, and he called with a great voice to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, ‘Send your sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for the earth’s grapes are fully ripe!’ The angel thrust his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vintage of the earth, and threw it into the great wine press of the wrath of God. The wine press was trodden outside of the city, and blood came out of the wine press, even to the bridles of the horses, as far as one thousand six hundred stadia.” — Revelation 14:17–20, WEB
It’s important not to get lost in all the little moving parts here, all the little images.
But when he talks about the winepress of the wrath of God, he’s quoting Isaiah 63.
It essentially uses that image to describe the way that God is decisively conquering the nations that rebel against Him and reject and oppose Him.
He is a divine warrior on horseback trampling over them, the same way that you trample over the grapes in a winepress to create wine.
And in the same way here, when he says the winepress of the wrath of God, the nations are crushed and 1,600 stadia of blood come out.
The Complete Judgment
Now the point is not a specific number.
The point is 1,600.
That is 40 times 40.
We’ve talked about the significance of 40 years, 40 days, 40 of these things, 40 of those things, just kind of throughout the story that the Bible tells.
It’s essentially a number that kind of signifies temporariness.
And yet 40 times 40 together, 1,600, that is temporariness times temporariness that is multiplied together.
It becomes completeness.
This is not a temporary victory.
This is a complete victory.
A complete judgment.
This is no longer just a warning like the early seals, the early trumpets, the early bowls.
This is God pouring out His final judgment on all of creation.
The Lamb’s victory over the beast, over Babylon, over the serpent, is final.
His enemy does not win.
And so everyone who has aligned themselves with the serpent by continuing to rebel against the Lord all the way to the very end is gathered up and condemned alongside the serpent, the beast, Babylon.
The Harvest of Rescue
But at exactly the same time, a second thing happens.
Everyone who surrenders to King Jesus is rescued, vindicated, and rewarded in this final judgment.
Everyone who has been gathered into that 144,000, even people who were gathered into them yesterday, the day before the end, is rescued, vindicated, and rewarded in the final judgment.
Everyone who has been gathered into Mount Zion, who has been gathered into Jerusalem, who has been taken out of Babylon and gathered into Zion, out of the wicked city and into the Lord’s city, is rescued in the final judgment rather than destroyed.
They have been turned from God’s enemies to be destroyed in the judgment into God’s people to be rescued in the judgment.
And there’s a beautiful image in the middle of chapter 14.
Revelation 14:14–16 says:
“I looked, and behold, a white cloud; and on the cloud sat one like a son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. Another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, ‘Send your sickle and reap; for the hour to reap has come; for the harvest of the earth is ripe!’ He who sat on the cloud thrust his sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped.” — Revelation 14:14–16, WEB
Essentially what’s happening here is that while all the people who rebelled all the way to the end are gathered up in the harvest for the judgment of destruction, at exactly the same time everyone who has come to the Lord in faith and repentance, thrown themselves on His mercy as Savior, submitted to Him as King, worshiped Him as God, is gathered up like a harvest for a judgment of rescue, a judgment of redemption, a judgment of reward.
The Harvest Fulfills the Mission
And this is really important because this is the fulfillment of everything that Revelation 12–14 has been leading up to.
He gathered His 144,000 at the mountain at the beginning of the chapter.
He sent them out to do war against the serpent.
And they do war against the serpent now by inviting rebellious humanity to come be redeemed.
They do war against the serpent by inviting their persecutors to come find rest in the Lord.
They are persecuting them because of the fact that they are proclaiming the message of Jesus.
They’re persecuting God’s people because they are going out to the harvest to find the lost and the hurting and the broken and the struggling and introduce them to this God who wants to redeem and restore.
That is the reason they are persecuting God’s people.
The Witness of Suffering Love
And yet as rebellious humanity sees God’s people suffering for our testimony, being persecuted because of the truth of Jesus, but continuing to proclaim the truth anyway, continuing to testify with love and grace and forgiveness anyway, slowly the hearts of rebellious humanity are melted and they come to a saving faith in King Jesus.
They are harvested for Jesus.
That is what John 4:35 is talking about.
Jesus says:
“Don’t you say, ‘There are yet four months until the harvest?’ Behold, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and look at the fields, that they are white for harvest already.” — John 4:35, WEB
He says, “You go harvest rebellious humanity, and I will bring them to faith through your suffering, your persecution, and your love.”
And the result is what we see in Revelation 7:9:
“After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude, which no man could count, out of every nation and of all tribes, peoples, and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, dressed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands.” — Revelation 7:9, WEB
The end result of all of this is rebellious humanity comes to faith and repentance.
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