A Commentary in Simple English on Revelation

CHAPTER 14

Verses 1-5 The Fourth Vision - the Lamb on Mount Zion

As we read these verses we need to compare them with Chapter 13.

a) In 13:1 the dragon 'stood on the shore of the sea'. The sand of the shore is soft. Sometimes, it is not safe. Storms in the sea will move it. But the Lamb stands on Mount Zion (14:1). That is solid rock. It will never move. He stands. He does not come up out of earth or sea.

b) In 13:11, we saw the devil's false lamb, which was the second wild animal. Here we see the true Lamb of God (14:1). He really did die. The first wild animal only seemed to have had a death blow.

c) In 13:15, the second wild animal uses tricks so that the image of the first wild animal can even speak! But in 14:2 and 3, we hear a great voice from heaven. We hear music and singing. These are grand and good sounds.

d) In 13:16 the second wild animal forces people to have a mark put on them. The use of that mark is only so that they can buy and sell. The crowd, which is with the Lamb, have the names of honour written on them. There is no higher name and no name with more honour than the name of the Lamb and of His Father. And they have this name on them to show that God loves them and that He will give them glory. In other places we read that it is not just a mark. It is a 'seal'.

e) Then we have the number of the wild animal in 13:18. It is the number which means that we try hard but fail. They try and fail not just once but time and time again. Now we have God's number, 144,000. This is the number of God's people. (See 7:4.)

f) One of the best things is this. The two wild animals in Chapter 13 kill some people. Other people have to do what they are told by the wild animals to do. No one is said to be 'with them'. But in 14:1 the Lamb is with the people of God. He shares with them. He will never fail them. He will never leave them. Think of some more verses to go with Psalm 130:7; Matthew 28:20; and John 17:24.

In the same way, we can compare these verses with some things in the verses that follow. Zion is the city of God (verse 1). It stands and it will never move or fall. Babylon is the great city of this world. In verse 8, an angel says that Babylon has fallen.

In verse 4 those who follow Jesus, the Lamb of God, speak no lies. Verses 9-11 speak again about those who believe the lies, which the devil speaks. Those who follow Jesus are the 'first fruits' to God. The 'first fruits' were the first part of a crop at harvest time. 'First fruits' were offered to God. In verse 16 there is the full harvest.

In verse 1, we read about Mount Zion. This was a part of Jerusalem; but no one is quite sure which part. It was not really a very high mountain. But it was a part of Jerusalem, which was especially holy. It is often spoken of in the Old Testament. Psalm 2:6 is an important place. There God the Father says that He has placed His own Son on Mount Zion. (See also Hebrews 12:22.)

We read about the 144,000 in 7:4. Every one of them is now with the Lamb on Mount Zion. Not one of them has been lost. In John 10: 28 Jesus tells us that none of His people will be lost. We all feel the devil sometimes. He has a long, hard pull. He tries to get us out of our Saviour's hand. Sometimes it is a short, sharp pull. But Jesus says that no one can pull us out of His hand. Even the devil cannot do it.

But we want to know where Mount Zion is. It is not heaven. It is the highest and holiest place on earth. It is the place with most honour. It is where Jesus meets in His church with His own people. And where two or three Christians meet in the name of Jesus, He is there with them.

But in verses 2 and 3, John hears a great voice of worship. This comes from heaven. [14.1]. It is a new song. (See 5:9; Psalm 40:3; Psalm 98:1; Psalm 149:1; Isaiah 42:10.) It is a new song because there is something new to sing about! It is a song about God's love. He has saved us. He has promised us glory. New joy calls for a new song. And that is why no one can learn how to sing this new song unless he has been saved. It was only for those for whom Jesus had paid the price when He died on the cross. He set them free from sin and death. It was the joy inside them that made them sing.

To understand verse 4, it will help you to look at 2 Corinthians 11:2. There Paul says that the Corinthian church was like a bride. Paul had promised that the bride would marry the Lord Jesus Christ. But the 'bride of Christ' must be pure. The church is not pure if the people worship false gods. Nor is it as pure as it should be if the people listen to false teaching about Jesus.

Now Paul in that verse only speaks about the church at Corinth. But here John thinks of the bride of Christ as the whole church (19:7). So this verse does not mean that it is wrong to marry. It says that we must not mix the worship of false 'gods' with the worship of the true God.

But a Christian is not known just by what he does not do. A Christian is also a follower of Jesus. The Lamb is also the Shepherd of His sheep. And His sheep follow Him everywhere. He paid the price to save them, so they are His by right. He has 'redeemed' them.

The Old Testament law about 'first fruits' is in Exodus 23:16 and 19. See also James 1:18. The lie (verse 5) is of course the devil's lie. Christians will not pray to Caesar, or call him 'Lord'. They will only pray to God, and call Him Lord.

Verses 6-11 The Fifth Vision: Three Angels

This is rather like 8: 13.

Now John sees three angels. He tells us about the first angel in verses 6 and 7. This angel flies in the part of the sky where the sun is at noon. The angel had a message of Good News, which was true for every age. It was to be 'proclaimed' or preached 'over those who sit on the earth'. The angel had to give this 'Good News' to all people everywhere.

Now we do know that the first and best of the Caesars, Augustus, had used this very word 'Good News' in some of his laws. [14.2] So perhaps what John says here is: -: 'Caesar tells you that the Roman Empire is good News' for people everywhere. Caesar tries to tell you that he is a “god“. Caesar tells you to worship him. But there is only one God. Worship Him and only Him!’ (19: 10 and Matthew 4:10). It is not just when the day or time of judgment comes. The hour when God will judge all men has arrived. Now God judges people who turn to Christ and judges in their favour. Soon He will judge against those who do not turn to Jesus as Saviour.

The mention of springs or 'fountains' of water is not usual. (But see 8: 10 and 16:4.) Perhaps John knew that many people in some of the churches in Asia never saw the sea. But they did know that springs of water were important to them.

In verse 8, we hear the message of the second angel. This one does not have a strong, loud voice, it seems. He says that the fall of Babylon is complete and final. [14.3] This is the first time in Revelation that we have heard about Babylon.

In Old Testament times, Babylon was a great city. It was on the River Euphrates, and it was a river port. (See Psalm 137: the Jews there are slaves. They have to dig new 'canals' to bring water into the city.) For many years, the Assyrian Empire had been the great power in that part of the world. But in 612BC. its chief city, Nineveh, fell. By then, Babylon had become the great world power. This only lasted until 539BC. Then the Persians took the city of Babylon. Babylon did not become a ruin at once. For several hundred years it slowly became less important. It was already a ruin by the time of John. So when Peter speaks about Babylon (1 Peter 5:13) he may mean Rome. [14.4]

John will have more to say later about Babylon. (See 16:19; Chapters 17 and 18; and 19:2 for example). For Babylon is the city of this world. It is the city where all that is bad and wrong comes together.

The Old Testament prophets wrote a lot about Babylon. (See Isaiah 13, 14 and 21; Jeremiah 50 and 51. Ezekiel lived near Babylon and he was not free to write like that about Babylon. The Book of Daniel is set in Babylon.)

When John writes about 'Babylon' it is clear that he means Rome. It would not be safe for him to say what he does about Rome! But he does not mean only Rome. He writes about the great and sinful cities of every age. And he compares the cities of this world with the City of God, the New Jerusalem, which he will tell us about later (Chapters 21 and 22).

The second part of the verse may mean that Babylon has made God angry. She is like a woman who is not pure. She sins with many men. This means that she worships many false 'gods'. And the wine may mean God's anger. Her sins have stirred God's anger. All the nations shared in her sins. So all the nations will suffer from God's anger. [14.5] But most people think that it is Babylon that gives the wine to the nations. This makes them drunk. And the wine then means her sins.

We should remember that the worship of false 'gods' often does stir up in people strong desires that are not at all pure. It is not just that the worship of false 'gods' is wrong, and that we may only worship the one living God. Some heathen worship led to people being drunk and wild, and to sins between men and women. (See perhaps 1 Corinthians 12:2; and 1 Corinthians 10: 7 and 8.) We have seen in verse 4 that those who follow the Lamb are not guilty of these sins.

Then in verses 9-11 we have the message of the third angel. The first angel brought good news. The second angel said: 'Babylon may be great. It may be full of people and of 'gods' too. But when God's time comes, the city will fall. And if the great city falls, there is no help for the people with whom God is angry'. All the nations drank Babylon's wine. They enjoyed sin and desires that were not pure. Now (verse 10) they will have to drink God's wine. And that is His great anger against sin.

John says that this wine is 'mixed unmixed'. People mixed wine with dried leaves and seeds - 'herbs' - to give it extra flavour. But then they mixed it with water before they drank it so that it was not too strong. But the wine of God's great anger against sin is not mixed with water to make it weaker.

Verses 10 and 11 give us a very sad and awful picture. They tell us what will happen to sinners when God judges them. God will judge not only those who make Christians suffer, but also all who worship the false 'gods'.

1 There is fire. Brimstone or sulphur burns with a very bad smell. (See 9: 17 and 18; Genesis 19:24.)

2 What sinners suffer will happen to them with the holy angels there. Men have been unholy. Now they suffer before the holy angels and the Lamb. The Lamb died to save sinners. But those who turn away from Him and do not believe the Good News, God will judge.

Notice that John does not say that sinners suffer in front of Christian people. That would surely spoil glory for us. Remember this too. Our Lord Jesus Christ was quite clear in Matthew 25:41. God did not prepare the fire of hell to punish sinful men and women. God prepared the fire only to punish the devil and his angels. But this will make it all the worse for men and women. They will know that they came to hell's fire by their own choice.

3 (Verse 11). 'Day or night' of course means 'at any time'. There is no rest in hell. But verse 13 promises rest for Christians; rest from all their work; rest forever with Jesus. There will be plenty to do in glory. But we shall never be tired or in pain.

Verses 12 and 13 Blessing and Promise

Verse 12 is rather like the last part of 13: 10. In verses 6-11, angels fly across the sky with messages for people who are not Christians. But Christians have God's word to guide and help them. So they do not need angel messages. The three angels warn the world. And this warning is a 'call' to Christians. They must not sin. They must not worship false 'gods'. They must suffer. They may have to die. They have to wait for God to show His love to them. [14.6].

Perhaps no verse in the Revelation is better known and loved than verse 13. It is used very often when Christians have died. There may be no angels in verse 12 but now we have a voice from heaven. This is the voice of God Himself. He says these things to us: -

1 The 'blessedness' of Christians does not come to an end when they die. They have only begun to find out how good God is to them in this life. That is what 'blessed' means. Death is the way by which they will learn far more. We are 'blessed' as soon as we die.

2 We die 'in the Lord'. The 'Lord' means Jesus. We are one with Him in this life. We are one with Him in death. We shall be one with Him in glory. There can be no end to His life. He is the One who fought the battle with death and won. He can never die again (Romans 6:9). We share His life. We live by faith and we die in the faith (Hebrews 11:13).

3 'From now on' may mean 'ever since Jesus died on the cross and rose again'.

4 God promises us 'rest' when we die. (See Hebrews 4: 3,6,9 and 11.)

5 Our works 'follow'. They do not go on in front of us. Jesus did that! He made a way to God for us. It is not what we have done that opens the way to God for us.

Verses 14-20 The Sixth Vision: Two Harvests

Jesus spoke about God's people in the world as 'wheat'. (See Matthew 13:24-30 and 36-43.) So the harvest of wheat in verses 14-16 is the harvest of God's people. But there is another harvest here in verses 17-20. It is a harvest of the grapes. They grew on vines and wine was made from them. This harvest is a harvest of those who do what is wrong. (See Isaiah 63:2 and 3.)

Now John makes the difference very clear. ‘One like a Son of Man'. gathers the first harvest (verse 14). This is Jesus Himself. We can tell that this is so because He wears a crown made from gold. This is not the crown of a king. It is the crown given to someone who has won a war or a race. The cloud also suggests that it is Jesus. (See Matthew 17:5; Acts 1: 9 and 10; Chapter 1:7.) In verse 17 it is just an angel who gathers the grapes.

There is another difference. In both cases, there is a message to say that harvest time has come. But the angel (in verse 15) who brings the first message comes out of the inner temple where God Himself lives. (Mark 13:32). The other angel (in verse 18) who brings the second message comes from the altar. (See 8: 3-5 and 6:9-11.) This is the altar where those Christians who have been killed because of their faith are remembered. The call to 'harvest' a sinful world comes from the angel at this altar.

So there is yet more teaching for us in these two pictures. Jesus is seated on a white cloud, ready to gather in His own people. And they wait and hope for Him to come! Already He has come out of God's inner temple. But we do not see the angel in verse 17 waiting. He comes straight out of God's inner temple.

So in verse 15 we read that the time, or rather 'the very hour', for the harvest is ready. It is ripe or 'fully dried'. Wheat can only be harvested when it is really dry. So in verse 18 the angel is told that the grapes are quite ripe and dry.

Verses 19 and 20 are not easy. People used a ‘winepress’ to begin to turn grapes into wine. It was the shape of a figure '8'. Two bowls would be cut out of rock, and joined by a narrow neck. The people who harvested the grapes threw them into the upper bowl. Then people walked on the grapes to break them. The juice went through the narrow neck and gathered in the lower bowl. The skin and seeds (or 'pips') and the wood on which the grapes grew would not go through the neck. They could take that out and throw it away.

John may well have seen such a 'winepress' in the country around Philadelphia where the farmers grew great amounts of grapes and turned them into wine. But John now sees the winepress of God's great anger against sin! (See 19:15 and Joel 3:12 and 13.) 'Outside the city' makes us think about Hebrews 13:12. 'The city' means the city of this world (11:8) or Babylon (verse 8).

Those who ride horses put 'bridles' in the horses' mouths to control them (James 3:3). But these horses are probably war-horses. Other Jewish writers wrote like this. The blood would have to be almost two metres deep! A great number of people would have to be killed for that to happen. But John wants us to begin to think now about the last great battle (19:17-21).

'1,600 stadia' is about 300 km. This is said to be the length of Palestine from north to south. It is more help to think of 1600 as 40 multiplied by 40. Like most numbers in Revelation, 40 has a meaning, It seems to be the number of punishment. So 1600 means 'punishment multiplied by punishment'.

The great Greek meetings for their games were held in 'stadiums'. There would be two long raised banks of seats. These were straight and faced each other. At one end a half circle would join the two banks. This was the end at which races ended and where the judges watched to see who won the races. The stadium was open to the sky. The length of the race track down the middle of the 'stadium' came to be used as a measure of distance as in this verse.

But it may be that John uses the word for a different reason. The Romans would often use the 'stadium' for courts of law. At the end of the games, Christians (like Antipas in 2:13) would be brought out from prison. The Romans would put them on trial in front of the holiday crowds. If they said three times that they were Christians, they might be killed at once in front of the crowds.