My Eyes Have Seen the Coming of the Glory of the Lord

“A second angel” appears announcing the fall of “Babylon the Great.” Babylon is introduced here for the first time in Revelation, though a more full description will be provided in chapters 17 and 18. Babylon the Great is referenced six times (14:8; 16:19; 17:5; 18:2,10,21; see also Dan 4:30). Ancient Babylon in Mesopotamia, modern-day Iraq, had been a political, commercial, and religious powerhouse. It was once a great empire and known for its decadence, gross immorality, and idolatry.

In Revelation, Babylon stands for that system that stands religiously, politically, and economically in opposition to all that is of God. It is the antichrist’s worldwide political, economic, and religious empire. Founded by Nimrod (Gen 10:9), Babylon was the site of the first organized system of idolatrous and false worship (Gen 11:1-4). The tower of Babel was its most pronounced expression. So certain is its demise that the word fallen is repeated. It is certain to be destroyed (MacArthur, Revelation 12–22, 90).

All nations have been intoxicated, deceived, and seduced by this false system headed by the antichrist. Like a seductive prostitute, the Babylonian system leads men into passionate maddening adultery with a god who is no god at all.

Those who drink Babylon’s wine and experience her passion will also drink another wine and experience another passion. Tragically, it will be the wine of the wrath of God. As the 144,000 follow the Lamb, so those on the earth follow Babylon and the beast (14:9). The result is that they will now drink the wine of the wrath of God in full strength and in full measure.

In the Old Testament, God’s wrath is often pictured as a cup of wine to be drunk (Ps 75:8; Isa 51:17; Jer 25:15). Such wrath is the personal and proper response of a holy and righteous God to rebellious sinners who have said no to His love and grace revealed in Jesus Christ.

Verses 10 and 11 provide a terrifying picture of hell and eternal damnation. It is impossible to read these verses and come up with any kind of doctrine of universalism, annihilationism, or conditional immortality. The picture is one of conscious, eternal, and everlasting torment before the angels and the Lamb. Those in hell will have a constant awareness and knowledge of the God they rejected. This will only enhance the horror and torment they will experience. Fire and brimstone are often used in Scripture with respect to divine judgment. God used it to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen 19:24-25; Luke 17:29) (MacArthur, Revelation 12–22, 91). Our Lord spoke of hell as a place of “eternal fire” (Matt 18:8; 25:41), “unquenchable fire” (Mark 9:43), and where “the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:48). In Matthew 25:41 Jesus taught that the everlasting fire or hell was “prepared for the Devil and his angels.” God does not desire that anyone would go to hell, but that all would come to repentance (2 Pet 3:9). Those who go to hell choose their destiny, saying no to the grace of God made available to all through His Son, the Lamb, Jesus Christ.

The destiny of those who know Christ is radically different from those who die without Him. In verse 12 we are called to endurance, patience, steadfastness, or perseverance. Duvall notes, “The term ‘endurance’ (hypomone¯), perhaps ‘the key ethical term in the Apocalypse,’ appears seven times in Revelation (1:9; 2:2,3,19; 3:10; 13:10; 14:12)” (Revelation, 198). While our salvation is a signed, sealed, and settled issue rooted in the keeping power of God (Jude 24-25), we are indeed challenged to persevere, and the means of our perseverance is noted here in verse 12: those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. Jesus reminded us in John 8:31, “If you continue in My word, you really are My disciples.” John also wrote in his first epistle, “For this is what love for God is: to keep His commands” (1 John 5:3). Those who follow the Lamb have faith in Jesus, and those who have faith in Jesus follow the Lamb. The two concepts cannot be separated from each other. In the midst of horrible tribulation and great wickedness, we cannot help but wonder, Is our devotion to the Lamb truly worth it? Verse 13 provides a resounding “Yes!” to that question.

John again hears a voice from heaven telling him to write—to write words that will be permanent and lasting. Here we encounter the second of seven beatitudes in the book of Revelation (1:3; 16:15; 19:9; 20:6; 22:7,14). “The dead who die in the Lord from now on are blessed” is a remarkable statement. It can only be understood when taken as a whole. If we were to say, “Blessed are the dead,” that would certainly make no sense and seem blatantly absurd. However, when you add the phrase “who die in the Lord,” everything takes on a new perspective. Paul taught us that “to be out of the body” is to be “at home with the Lord” (2 Cor 5:8). He also said in Philippians 1:21, “For me, living is Christ and dying is gain.” Psalm 116:15 teaches us that “the death of His faithful ones is valuable in the Lord’s sight.” So certain is this truth that the Holy Spirit gives His hearty affirmation, “Yes.” This is the only time the Holy Spirit is quoted in the whole Revelation except in 22:17. His emphatic “yes” reveals His absolute agreement with the voice from heaven that states that those who die in the Lord are indeed blessed.

Those who die in the Lord have their final rest. Sorrow and suffering are at an end. Those who die in the Lord find their works following them. In other words, rest and reward is the promise of eternity for those who have followed the Lamb and have kept their faith in Jesus.

REVELATION 14:14-20

I once heard a Jewish evangelist named Hyman Appleman say, “If I could scare you out of hell, I would.” I have to agree with him, knowing how terrible and eternal hell will be. Revelation 14:9-11 makes this clear. Now verses 14-20 demonstrate its future horror by the images of two harvests: grain in 14-16 and grapes in 17-20. While some students of Scripture believe the first depicts the harvest of the righteous and the second the unrighteous, it is best to see both as harvests of judgment on the wicked. The Old Testament background is Joel 3:12-13, where the Bible says,

Let the nations be roused and come to the Valley of Jehoshaphat, for there I will sit down to judge all the surrounding nations. Swing the sickle because the harvest is ripe. Come and trample the grapes because the winepress is full; the wine vats overflow because the wickedness of the nations is great.

John looks (see vv. 1,6) and sees the Son of Man on a white cloud with a golden victor’s crown on His head. This is the Lord Jesus (see 1:13-16; Dan 7:13-14). Here is our Lord in dazzling brilliance and majesty, awesome authority and power. Revelation 1:7 is coming to fruition.

He has a sharp sickle in his hand (14:14) and an angel coming out of the temple in heaven says the time to harvest the earth has come because “the earth is ripe” (14:15). Jesus Himself “likens the final judgment to the harvest of the earth (Matt. 13:30, 39)” (Johnson, Revelation, 1983,143).

Verse 16 is brief and simple: “So the One seated on the cloud swung His sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested.” The divine, heavenly “terminator” has come. Judgment day has arrived and it cannot be delayed. God’s wrath comes via the Lamb. God’s wrath comes on time. The ministry of mercy is over. Sowing the seed of the gospel is at an end. Tomorrow or “someday” is now today.

The vision shifts from the “grain harvest” to the “grape harvest.” I believe this is also our first glimpse of the battle or campaign of Armageddon (see 16:12-16; 19:17-21). The fifth and sixth angels of chapter 14 appear in verses 17-18. The fifth, like the fourth, comes from the sanctuary. Like our Lord, he has a sharp sickle for reaping. The sixth angel comes from the altar, the altar of incense (6:9-11; 8:3-5). There is once more a connection between the prayers of the saints and judgment on earth. God hears and answers our prayers. The fifth angel commands the sixth to harvest the grapes “from earth’s vineyard, because its grapes have ripened.” Fully ripened is the idea. The time is now.

The angel responds immediately and decisively (14:19). There is no delay, no hesitation. In the ancient Near East in John’s time, grapes were trampled or stomped by foot in a trough that had a duct leading to a lower trough or basin where the juice was collected. “The splattering of the juice as the grapes are stomped vividly pictures the splattered blood of those who will be destroyed” (MacArthur, Revelation 12–22, 117).Treading grapes in a winepress was a familiar figure of divine wrath and judgment.

I trampled the winepress alone, and no one from the nations was with Me. I trampled them in My anger and ground them underfoot in My fury; their blood spattered My garments, and all My clothes were stained. For I planned the day of vengeance, and the year of My redemption came. (Isa 63:3-4)

The Lord has rejected all the mighty men within me. He has summoned an army against me to crush my young warriors. The Lord has trampled Virgin Daughter Judah like grapes in a winepress. (Lam 1:15)

Swing the sickle because the harvest is ripe. Come and trample the grapes because the winepress is full; the wine vats overflow because the wickedness of the nations is great. (Joel 3:13)

A sharp sword came from His mouth, so that He might strike the nations with it. He will shepherd them with an iron scepter. He will also trample the winepress of the fierce anger of God, the Almighty. (Rev 19:15)

Jerusalem will be spared the terrible judgment at the second coming of Christ according to God’s Word. She will be damaged but not destroyed. This is in keeping with God’s prediction and promise in Zechariah 14:1-5:

A day of the Lordis coming when your plunder will be divided in your presence. I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem for battle. The city will be captured, the houses looted, and the women raped. Half the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be removed from the city.

Then the Lordwill go out to fight against those nations as He fights on a day of battle. On that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east. The Mount of Olives will be split in half from east to west, forming a huge valley, so that half the mountain will move to the north and half to the south. You will flee by My mountain valley, for the valley of the mountains will extend to Azal. You will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come and all the holy ones with Him.

The war that will truly end all wars will no doubt be worldwide, yet its focal point will be on the Plain of Esdraelon near Mount Megiddo (about 60 miles north of Jerusalem). This is what we know as Armageddon. Here will take place the most horrific and destructive battle the world will ever know.

Armageddon is also noted in 16:12-16 and 19:17-21. It is more a slaughter than a battle. Blood will flow or be splattered up to a horse’s bridle, or about four feet high. It will run for 1,600 furlongs or stadia—184 miles. This is hyperbole suggesting massive, unimaginable slaughter and destruction (MacArthur, Revelation 12–22, 117). Josephus tells us that when Jerusalem was destroyed in AD 70 by the Roman general Titus, he killed so many Jews that the whole city ran with blood so much that the fires of many houses were quenched with their blood (Wars of the Jews, 6.8.5). In the coming battle, the blood will fill the troughs and streambeds throughout the valley of Megiddo and beyond. It will truly be a just and terrible day of vengeance and judgment.

The faithful Baptist preacher of London, Charles Spurgeon, understood the gravity of what it means to stand either with Jesus or against Jesus. He understood, as many do not, what was at stake. Bringing his own sermon from this chapter to a conclusion, he pled with conviction and passion in words I simply cannot ignore. I urge you to heed his warning and his counsel lest you are thrown into the great winepress of the wrath of God.

I beseech you, do not risk that doom for yourselves. Escape for your lives; look not behind you but fly to the only refuge which God has provided. Whoever will entrust his soul to Jesus Christ shall be eternally saved. Look unto him who wore the thorn-crown, and repose your soul’s entire confidence in Him, and then, in that last great day, you shall see Him seated on the white cloud, wearing the golden crown, and you shall be gathered. . . . But if you reject Him, do not think it wrong that you should be cast with the grapes into the winepress of the wrath of God, and be trodden with the rest of “the clusters of the vine of the earth.” I beg you to take Christ as your Saviour, this very hour lest this night you should die unsaved. Lay hold of Jesus, lest you never hear another gospel invitation or warning. If I have seemed to speak terribly, God knoweth that I have done it out of love to your souls; and, believe me, that I do not speak as strongly as the truth might well permit me to do, for there is something far more terrible about the doom of the lost than language can ever express or thought conceive. God save all of you from ever suffering that doom, for Jesus Christ’s sake! Amen. (“Harvest”)