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●SLIDE # [hurricane pix and words]: Today I want to talk to you about what to do when the storms of life are raging.
When your spouse says, “I want a divorce.”
When the policeman says to you, “You are under arrest.”
When you open the white envelope at work and the pink slip says, “You are no longer needed. Pick up your check and clean out your desk.”
When the doctor says, “This is serious. This is life threatening.”
When you open the bedroom door in the morning and your teenager is gone—and three days later you still don’t know where they are.
●SLIDE #: [satellite map of hurricane showing swirling winds and eye] And it is like the hurricane has struck with full force—and the boards are flying off the house, and you feel like the glass shards from the exploding window panes are plunging deep into your body; each one penetrating with a snip of pain that you feel will never go away.
And when it is over, if it ever is over, you just know that you will be left cut and bleeding—with wounds you wonder will ever heal?
How many of you have ever experienced what you might describe as hurricane force winds blowing against your life?
I want you to look into the eye of the hurricane—and find peace.
●SLIDE #: [open bible; words in quotes] In our passage this morning in Revelation 14 I think we would find God saying: “When the storms of live are raging, stand by Me.”
The Book of Revelation is a book about the future. It is also a book about today. First, we will apply this passage to the current storms of life. Then, we will examine seven distinct pictures in Revelation 14. This is a stormy passage. I will summarize these seven vignettes with enough background so that we know what the Word of God says about the future. Finally, we will see how these future vignettes give us insight about surviving storms of the present.
●The Storms Of Life Are Raging.
●The Storms Of Life Will Rage In The Future (Revelation 14).
●When The Storms of Life Are Raging These Seven Vignettes Help Us Survive.
●SLIDE #: [Calm after the storm] When you leave here this morning, I want you to have a solid grip on how to survive and even thrive for the storms you’re in—and for the storms you are going to face.
Did you know that only one couple in twenty who lose a child are still married five year later? That is a gale-force hurricane. Larry and Nancy survived.
Julie and I survived. Our daughter was also named Jessica.
●SLIDE #: [open bible; words in quotes] In our passage this morning in Revelation 14 I think we would find God saying: “When the storms of live are raging, stand by Me.”
The Book of Revelation is a book about the future. It is also a book about today.
Glenn and I to revelation 14.
Context if you are new to Casas or to Revelation: End Times struggle where Good triumphs over Evil. World-view: Jesus takes the world back again and brings justice and soon to see a time of peace and stability with Him in control.
Last 7 years. 3.5 peace. 3.5 Great tribulation with seals, trumpets and bowls. We are in an interlude after trumpets and before bowls of God’s wrath poured and all come to a sudden conclusion at the Battle of Armageddon.
Let me show you the storms of the text. There are seven distinct pictures. I will summarize them with enough background so that you and I know what the Word of God says about future days. Then we will bring them home to present days.
●SLIDE #: 144,000 are saved, secure and sold-out to the Lamb (Revelation 14:1-5).
●SLIDE #: REVELATION 14:1-3: Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads. And I heard a sound from heaven like the roar of rushing waters and like a loud peal of thunder. The sound I heard was like that of harpists playing their harps. And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. No one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth.
●SLIDE #: REVELATION 14:4-5: These are those who did not defile themselves with women, for they kept themselves pure. They follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were purchased from among men and offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb. No lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless.
Representative of Christians, God’s people who sold out to Christ.
Picture of salvation: Begin to sing a new song: a whole new way to look at life that no one understands.
Picture of full commitment to Christ—did not defile themselves with women=spiritual adultery
Fully committed because they refused to take mark in the last chapter.
●SLIDE #: The gospel is proclaimed to all the earth (Revelation 14:6-7).
●SLIDE #: REVELATION 14:6-7: Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth– to every nation, tribe, language and people. He said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.”
Become Christian and want to share the gospel with the whole world.
●SLIDE #: The Babylonian system of evil and false religion is declared destroyed (Revelation 14:8).
●SLIDE #: REVELATION 14:8: A second angel followed and said, “Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great, which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries.”
When the storms of life are raging: Evil and false religion have not yet fallen. We have to fight through them. One day they will be obliterated—but not in our present life-time.
●SLIDE #: The beast worshippers in the Kingdom of Evil are eternally doomed (Revelation 14:9-11).
●SLIDE #: REVELATION 14:9-11: A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: “If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on the forehead or on the hand, he, too, will drink of the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. He will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment rises forever and ever. There is no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and his image, or for anyone who receives the mark of his name.”
Don’t question why or try to figure it all out to your satisfaction. Trust God for what He said. He is telling us the way it is—not how we would imagine or like it to be, or what seems to make the most sense.
Explain gematria—but don’t’ let laborers get hung up on the numbers.
●SLIDE #: Christ followers who die in the Lord are eternally blessed (Revelation 14:12-13)
●SLIDE #: REVELATION 14:12-13: This calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints who obey God’s commandments and remain faithful to Jesus. Then I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.”
Spiritual fathers stop asking why.
Jessica Yancey funeral. Good to know she died in the Lord.
●SLIDE #: The harvesting the earth is revealed (Revelation 14:14-16).
●SLIDE #: REVELATION 14:14-16: I looked, and there before me was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one “like a son of man” with a crown of gold on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. Then another angel came out of the temple and called in a loud voice to him who was sitting on the cloud, “Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.” So he who was seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested.
●SLIDE #: The Armageddon winepress of blood is revealed (Revelation 14:17-20).
●SLIDE #: REVELATION 14:17-18: Another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. Still another angel, who had charge of the fire, came from the altar and called in a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, “Take your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the earth’s vine, because its grapes are ripe.”
●SLIDE #: REVELATION 14:19-20: The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath. They were trampled in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed out of the press, rising as high as the horses’ bridles for a distance of 1,600 stadia.
●SLIDE #: Hiroshima Diary by John Hersy
●SLIDE #: Map of Palestine for 180 miles.
●Your Personal Armageddon is coming.
Doesn’t matter if you die in battlefield with bullets or in hospital bed with cancer. It will be your Armageddon.
●SLIDE #: WHAT DOES THIS MEAN TO ME TODAY?
We Cannot Stand Alone. We Make Connections Or We Won’t Make It At All.
When We Receive Jesus Christ As Our Personal Savior We Begin A Process Of Spiritual Growth That Leads To Safety And Security.
Selling Out To Christ, At Any Price, Enables Us To Respond Predictably And Without Wavering When the Winds Begin To Blow.
Contrary Winds Usually Blow Us To Something Better.
●SLIDE #: You Cannot Stand Alone. Make Connections Or You Won’t Make It At All.
●SLIDE #: Get Tattooed By Jesus Christ.
●SLIDE #: Sell Out To Christ At Any Price So You Will Respond Predictably In Each Storm Of Life.
●SLIDE #: Contrary Winds Will Often Blow You To Something Better.
Peace comes with the security.
●Join the 144,000. Make a warm-hearted decision (cold-blooded) to follow Christ at any price.
●Immediately commit yourself to a process spiritual growth to close the gap from where you are to a most intimate relationship with Christ: More intimately you have closed the gap to the spirit-filled the life the more you trust God in every situation.
●Sell out to Christ at any price—so God is on your side. (You are on his side.) Settle the issue so you are not wavering and asking all the Why questions as you try to navigate the hurricane winds. You have to stay focused to survive.
●Don’t’ stand against the gale force winds alone.
●Keep up your hope. Remember that contrary winds sometimes blow you to something better.
Blessed to die in the Lord.
Man on island with fire out of control. We saw your fire.
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When the storms of life are raging, stand by me.
In the midst of tribulation, stand by me.
When you feel so
And your friends don’t understand,
When the
Stand by me
When you’re crossing chilly Jordan, stand by me.
Don’t go through alone: 144,000
Refuse to take Mark of beast. What is mark of beast?
Story of girl in Holland: If I had it all to do over again, I’d do it again for Jesus.
Blood up to horses’ bridals. What calamity are you facing. It is going to really get bloody.
What is God’s heart here. He wants to save as many as possible.
Not good to ask all the why questions. Take it as the way it is and “stand by Me.”
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INTRODUCTION
Revelation 14 is a sort of prophetic cameo – a series of short scenes that will take place toward the end of the Tribulation. The theme that binds all the scenes together in Christ’s ultimate triumph over all the forces of evil that run rampant during the Tribulation.
Revelation 12 gave us a picture of Satan’s fury toward the earth as he was cast down onto it from Heaven. The diabolical maneuverings of the two Antichrists was the theme of Chapter 13. But Chapter 14 presents a refreshing interlude in the outpouring of divine judgment upon fallen man.
Here we have the adoration of the Lamb by His “sheep” on the pasture of Mount Zion; the pastoral calm of the scene provides welcome relief to the flashes of lightning and thunder which accompanied the angry judgments of God in prior chapters.
I.THE LAMB AND THE 144,000 (Revelation 14:1-5)
READ REVELATION 14:1-5
Revelation 14 reminds us that there will be a large group of people who never gave in to the persuasions of the Beast.
WHO ARE THEY?
The identity of this group of 144,000 subjects has for some reason eluded many outstanding Bible scholars. Most commentators have a tendency to assume that they are identical with the 144,000 Jews for Jesus chosen from the twelve tribes described in Chapter 7.
The differences between the two groups seem to limit our assuming that they are the same, particularly when one bears in mind that the scene in Chapter 14 is in heaven and that these are taken from among men, indicating they come from all nations, rather than just from among the Jews.
The 144,000 found in Chapter 14 are probably the most outstanding 144,000 saints of the Church from the early days of the spread of the Gospel to the Rapture of the Church. For this consecrated and devoted service to our Master they will enjoy a special position before the throne of God from death until the glorious appearing of Christ, at which time all saints will come with Him. This position doubtless signifies that they will have great responsibility while reigning with Him during the millennial kingdom.
WHAT ARE THE QUALIFICATIONS FOR THIS ELITE GROUP OF CHRISTIANS?
1.They are redeemed from the earth by faith in Christ, “having his name, and the name of his Father, written on their foreheads” (14:1b, ASV); “redeemed from the earth” (14:3b); “redeemed from among men” (14:4b). Obviously these men were first born again by receiving Jesus Christ as their personal Savior and Lord.
2.They are morally pure. “These are they who were not defiled with women; for they are virgins” (14:4).
In any case, there could well have been 144,000 in the last 1900 years plus of the Christian Church who have remained single for the Lord’s sake; having met the other qualifications they will share in that elite position with Paul, possibly John, and others.
I would not insist on a literal interpretation of this expression for the following reason. Nowhere does the Bible teach that sexual intercourse in marriage is defiling.
On the contrary, Hebrews 13:4 clearly announces, “Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled, but fornicators and adulterers God will judge.” Even the Apostle Paul, in 1 Corinthians 7, when encouraging consecrated young men to “abide even as I”, was doing so not for moral reasons, but that they might give themselves more completely to serving the Lord and not be encumbered with concerns for the desires and tastes of a wife.
I do not find where a faithful married woman is considered any less virtuous in the Scriptures than an unmarried virgin.
On the contrary, the Revelation text probably does not mean unmarried men, but men who are undefiled by women; that is, they have either kept the marriage contract or have never known a woman, and thus in the eyes of God are considered virgins.
The Bible does not teach celibacy; in fact, no hint of it is found in Scripture. The Bible everywhere advocates that Christians by holy and virtuous, undefiled by the world. Misuse of sex has always been one of man’s greatest problems, infidelity and immorality one of man’s greatest temptations.
Therefore the elite group of 144,000 who qualify to stand before the throne of God in Heaven are those who have kept themselves undefiled. That is, they kept their marriage vows or remained unmarried. Spiritual virgins.
3.They are obedient and available. “These are they who follow the lamb wherever he goeth” (14:4b). It is obvious that all of God’s children, in fact, all of His servants, are not completely yielded to His will. Some have known years of yieldedness and faithful service, only to go back and “walk no more with him”, whereas others have had on-again off-again periods of obedience. The elite group of 144,000 is unusually marked by obedience. Their attitude is epitomized by the statement of the Apostle Paul immediately upon recognizing Jesus, when he said, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?”
4.They tell the truth. “And in their mouth was found no guile” (14:5).
5.They live blameless lives. “They are without fault” (14:5b). This does not indicate that they are perfect, for they too had to be redeemed from among men; they were lost sinners and had to be born again. It does not mean sinless perfection, that they have never sinned since their salvation, but reasserts what the Apostle Paul meant in 1 Thessalonians 2:10 when he said, “Ye are witnesses, and God also, how holily and justly and unblamably we behaved ourselves among you that believe.” These are men who, in their desire to serve Jesus Christ and walk with Him, leaned on His power to live holy, consecrated lives.
THE SONG
They will sing a new song which no man can learn save the 144,000 (14:3). These two rewards suggest that they will enjoy a special relationship with God the Son and God the Father from the time of their death after a life of faithful, holy service until they come with Christ to the earth,.
No one could learn that song but the 144,000 because it’s a joyous testimony of the miraculous and preserving grace of God through the horrors of the Tribulation. This song will be a hymn of praise to the mighty sustaining power of God for believers in times of great trial.
I have talked with Christians in many parts of the world, but there’s something really different about a Christian who has gone through tremendous trials of life. A person like this is very grateful to God for holding him up during his testing, and radiates a joy that you just don’t find in most other Christians. These joyful believers are able to share a message which really encourages you!
II.THE ANGEL PROCLAIMING THE EVERLASTING GOSPEL (Revelation 14:6-7)
Toward the end of the Tribulation period this Jewish evangelization will be followed by a phenomenon never before seen in the history of the word – angels, preaching the gospel to men! The phenomenon is described in verses 6 through 11. God will proclaim one last all-out offer of grace before He buries the world under an avalanche of final judgment. Three angels will fly through the atmosphere above the earth proclaiming the “everlasting gospel”.
Verse 6 introduces the first of five angels who convey a special message concerning the middle of the end time, or Tribulation Period.
READ REVELATION 14:6-7
Now we find an angel flying in mid-heaven (explain) proclaiming this eternal gospel.
It is astounding that an angel is commissioned to go forth preaching the everlasting Gospel, for the preaching of the Gospel has not been committed to angels but to men. This astounding state of affairs could only be an indication of the severity of the circumstances.
(Or possibly the failure of man to fully carry out the will of God in this area as well, Roger? -Tom)
This should not take us by surprise, for when the Babylonian influence of the Church was greatest during the Dark Ages, millions of Christians were persecuted to death. This period of history is well named the “Inquisition”. An overwhelming majority of believers will be eliminated; this few will remain to propagate the Gospel after the middle of the Tribulation Period.
Angels warned Lot in Sodom and rescued him there from doom. The law on Sinai was ministered by angels (Acts 7:53; Galatians 3:19) and especially by one – possibly Michael (Exodus 23:20-23; 33:2). Jehovah distinctly declares of this angel “my name is in him,” although Moses was not permitted to know him (Exodus 33:12).
He will declare this eternal gospel by the mouth of a mighty angel, who, flying “in mid heaven” all over the earth, will proclaim to every creature, in words understandable, and unmistakable, that the hour of God’s judgment has come; bidding men to turn quickly to the Creator of them, and of all things!
We must remember that one of the signs which were to precede the end was that the Gospel of the kingdom would be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations (Matthew 24:14). Here is the fulfillment of that prophecy. The angel comes with the message of the gospel to all races and tribes and tongues and peoples. The earth is to be given a final opportunity to accept or to reject Jesus Christ.
THE EVERLASTING GOSPEL
What is the everlasting Gospel? Is this a different gospel than that preached today? On the basis of the Word of God, absolutely not! This is the same gospel that we preach, the same that was “once delivered unto the saints” (Jude 3).
In like manner, this angel will warn the people to fear God instead of Antichrist, to give glory to God instead of Antichrist, and he will instruct them how to do it. Otherwise, he would be proclaiming a message of doom instead of good tidings. The word “Gospel” means “good tidings”, and the only way we can offer men eternal good tidings is to show them how to receive the Lord Jesus Christ by faith. A message concerning the judgment of God is only a partial presentation of the Gospel of Christ. The complete story of the Gospel not only clarifies that man is a sinner, but according to 1 Corinthians 15:3,4 also includes God’s remedy for sin through Christ, who died for our sins “according to the Scriptures; and that he was buried and that he rose again the third day.”
III.THE FALL OF BABYLON (Revelation 14:8)
READ REVELATION 14:8
Verse 8 looks ahead to another scene near the end of the Tribulation period and speaks of Babylon falling twice. Babylon as used in the Bible represents both a false religious system and the capital city of the one-world government – Rome. Revelation 17 and 18 make both of these identifications.
Future studies will reveal that the two Babylons begun by Nimrod in the city of Babylon, which have brought more misery and heartache on humanity than any other concepts, will be destroyed in the end times.
More individuals have been ruined in the plan of God for their lives because of the two Babylons than for any other reason. These two Babylons begun by Nimrod are (1) false religion, which emphasizes idolatry and (2) commercialization, which causes men to become materialistically oriented. These concepts that are playing such havoc in the world today will be destroyed – one in the middle of the Tribulation Period by Antichrist, the other at the end by the supernatural hand of God.
Chapter 17 – The false religious system is characterized by the ancient city of Babylon because it’s a religion based on the black magic, witchcraft, and astrology which originated in ancient Babylon. This religion will have its headquarters in Rome during the first half of the Tribulation period.
As a religious system, Babylon will be destroyed about three and a half years before Christ returns to Earth. The Antichrist will get bugged with the system and destroy it because it rakes the world’s religious attentions off himself. That’s the first fall of Babylon.
Chapter 18 – Then, during the great war that breaks out in the Middle East toward the end of the second half of the Tribulation, the city of Rome (which will be the capital city of the world and of Antichrist), will be completely blown to bits in a thermonuclear holocaust in one hour’s time. This is the second fall of Babylon and is the destruction of the greatest economic and commercial center of all time.
IV.ETERNAL DOOM FOR BEAST WORSHIPPERS (Revelation 14:9-11)
READ REVELATION 9-11
We have already seen that during the Tribulation Period a man will be required to worship the Antichrist image and receive his mark (666) in his forehead or his hand. When a man does this, he will “drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation”; that is, he will have turned his back on God’s method of salvation and taken to himself man’s method. This will incur the displeasure of Almighty God and bring upon men judgment and destruction.
This is only one of the many passages in the Bible that clearly teaches eternal suffering of the damned. I don’t enjoy teaching eternal damnation for lost men, but as a faithful teacher of the Word, I can do nothing else. Satan tries to discredit the Word of God and minimize the importance of turning from one’s sin to the Lord Jesus Christ, and he does not lack for false teachers to assist him in deceiving men.
Many today attempt to teach a non-judgment concept, including the annihilationists. These heretics take many forms in the various cults and “isms” of our day.
I wish I could report that the Bible teaches that Hell is a place when men will suffer for a little while and then be burned up, never to be remembered again, or where they will be given a second chance to get into heaven, but I could not be honest to the Word of God and make such a statement. Not the slightest suggestion of this is found in the Bible, nor does it hint of a second chance after death! The Bible presents no picture other than that the lake of fire is absolutely eternal and that the populace of the lake of fire will be “tormented day and night forever and ever.”
The Angelic Warning of the Eternal Doom of the Beast-Worshippers
1.He withdraws all mercy forever – the wine of His wrath that these shall drink will be “unmixed”, unmingled with any compassion whatsoever.
2.It will be in “the cup of His anger” that His wrath will be served out to them. The impenitent daily and hourly “treasure up for themselves wrath in the day of wrath”: but God withholds His anger. He waits. He suffers long and is kind. But “why may stand in Thy sight when once thou art angry?” (Psalm 76:7).
The same verse that says “love is strong as death” declares “jealousy is cruel as Sheol”. The creature of this human race for whom His Son died who turns his back on God whose name is Love, and chooses His enemy, the old serpent and murderer – God plainly tells us what he will do with him! He shall have “indignation forever”!
3.Consider the carefully described means of visitation upon such: “tormented with fire and brimstone”. Brimstone is the most terrible substance known in its action upon human flesh – in its torment when it touches the body. Combined with fire it is absolute agony, unutterable anguish! And it is meant to be so: for it will be the infliction of divine vengeance unlimited.
4.Consider the onlookers. “In the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb”! Vast, “innumerable hosts” of those holy servants of God who watched the fearful choice of these now-doomed humans, for whom, to the angelic astonishment, the Son of God once tasted death, men that hated love and despised holiness: all the countless millions of angels are there, in deep, awful, and holy approval of the divine sentence – for their God has done this! And in the presence of the Lamb! Oh, where in the universe is such a sight? Mercy is gone forever if the Lamb stands there – and He will!
5.Consider the duration: “The smoke of their torment (compare Genesis 19:24,28) goeth up for ever and ever.” And its unceasingness.
V.A GLORIOUS ALTERNATIVE: THE BLESSED STATE OF TRIBULATION SAINTS (Revelation 14:12-13)
READ REVELATION 14:12-13
“Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord” is the tremendous alternative of going to hell. Those who have received Jesus Christ into their lives need not fear death at all. For them death is just as entrance into the real destination of their lives on Earth – Heaven!
One of the consistent chords of the Scripture is the concept that present-day sufferings are inconsequential in view of the eternal blessings prepared for them that love the Lord.
The principle that “their works do follow them” is a blessed truth to the child of God. The Word clearly teaches that our investment of faithfulness to Jesus Christ today will earn eternal dividends. This conforms with the Savior’s challenge to “lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven, where neither moth or rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal” (Matthew 6:20). The Tribulation saints will be given special blessings for their faithfulness to Christ during that awful time of tribulation.
Alistair Maclean somewhere tells of a Highland woman who through no fault of her own was reduced to living in the squalor of a city slum. One went to her and sympathized with her that life had treated her so unjustly. Her answer was, “God will make it up to me, and I will see the flowers again.” There can never be any doubt of the ultimate bliss and joy of those who come to the end still one with Christ, and the sterner the battle has been, and more heartbreaking the sorrow has been, and the more exhausting the toil has been, the dearer will be the joy and the sweeter the bliss at the end of it all.
VI.THE VISION OF THE HARVEST OF THE EARTH (Revelation 14:14-16)
READ REVELATION 14:14-16
This is the Separation of Unbelievers from Believers.
The first vision of a harvest (verses 14-16) uses terminology what would be applicable to the reaping of wheat. It’s personally superintended by the “Son, of man” who, as predicted in a parable by Jesus. Is careful to gather in all the wheat and keep it separate from the tares. The parable reads as follows: “The harvest is the end of the age: and the reapers are the angels. Therefore, just as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so shall it be at the end of the age. The Son of man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His Kingdom things that cause stumbling, and those who practice lawlessness, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire; there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the Kingdom of their Fathers” (Matthew 13:49-43) (49-43? This is what the original said. Did you mean 39-43? -Tom)
This parable explains the first vision. Jesus does not do the dividing Himself but instead carefully supervises the separation of wheat and tares so that not one believer (wheat) is judged with the tares (unbelievers). This separating work is done by angels and happens just prior to the Lord’s triumphant reappearance back to the earth at the end of the Tribulation. The day of grace is ended at this point. Fates are forever sealed; there is no more chance for the unbelieving.
VII.THE VISION OF THE VINE OF THE EARTH AND THE WINEPRESS OF BLOOD (Revelation 14:17-20)
READ REVELATION 14:17-20
“Let the nations bestir themselves, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat. There will I sit to judge all the nations round about. Put ye in the sickle; for the harvest is ripe: come, tread ye; for the winepress is full, the vats overflow; for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of Jehovah is near in the valley of decision” (Joel 3:12-14).
The second vision which John the Apostle say (verses 17-20) is very different from the first. The Son of man doesn’t superintend this reaping. This harvest is done by an angel from the Temple of heaven. The symbol is that of a reaping for a vintage of wrath. All the clusters of grapes that are gathered in the harvest are cast into “the great winepress of the wrath of God”. This indicates that there’s no separation to be done here – all are unbelievers destined for Hell.
The place of this great judgment helps identify the ones being judged. God’s great winepress of judgment is said to be “outside the city”. “The city” could only be Jerusalem. So “ground zero” of God’s most awful judgment is just outside Jerusalem. Zechariah gives us prophetic insight about this. As he predicts the last great war before the Second Coming of the Messiah, he gives us God’s words: “I will gather all nations against Jerusalem…” (Zech. 14:2). Then he adds, “The Lord shall go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fought in the day of battle” (14:3).
Messiah to Jerusalem’s Rescue
The armies of all nations will be gathered together in the area of Israel, especially around Jerusalem. Think of it: at least 200 million soldiers from the Orient, with millions more from the forces of the West headed by the Antichrist of the Revived Roman Empire (Western Europe). Messiah Jesus will first strike those who have ravaged His city, Jerusalem. Then He will strike the armies amassed in the valley of Meggido, or Armageddon. No wonder blood will stand to the horses’ bridles for a distance of 200 miles from Jerusalem! (Revelation 14:20).
It’s grisly to think about such a carnage. From the point where the Valley of Armageddon slopes down to the Jordan Valley southward down the Valley through the Dead Sea to the port of Elath of the Gulf of Aqabah measures approximately 200 miles. Apparently this whole valley will be filled with war materials, animals, bodies of men, and blood.
Ah, such a fearful sight. Rivers of human blood “unto the bridles of the horses”! Yet it will be. If Josephus could say that when Jerusalem was taken by Titus, the Roman soldiers “obstructed the very lanes with dead bodies; and made the whole city run down with blood, to such a degree indeed that the fires of many of the houses was quenched with these men’s blood” (Wars: 6, 8) – what folly to doubt this word of God that a river of blood will run when the Son of God tramples the nations of all the earth in the Almighty’s anger!
CONCLUSION
In concluding this chapter, we must stress that the prediction that Christ will bring judgment on the earth comes only after three angelic warnings: (1) in the preaching of the everlasting gospel; (2) in the warning that the Babylonian religion will eventually be destroyed; and (3) in the assurance that the worshippers of the Antichrist will be judged in this life and the life to come. We can only conclude that those who are thus harvested and pressed into the winepress of the wrath of God are the incorrigibles who stumble over all kinds of divine warning against following Antichrist.
This tragic picture of the culmination of all things is another indication of the depravity of the human heart. Wish such supernatural warnings one would think that ungodly men would fall down and worship Jesus Christ, but nothing could be further from the truth. This is another reminder to us that when men reject the Lord, their problem is one of the will.
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