Revelation Chapter 14
Originally posted Monday December 29, 2008
General Comment: In chapter 13
John has envisioned the difficult social and religious situation that will
face the churches of western Asia Minor. The beast from the land (Emperor
worship and its priesthood) has been empowered to "make the earth and
its inhabitants" worship the beast from the sea - the returned Nero. The
mark (seal) of this second Beast has been placed on all who belong to it
and look to it for salvation and judgment. Those without this mark cannot enter
the economic functions of buying and selling. While none of this is to be
taken literally, John presents the visions as a warning to those who might
think it is harmless to accommodate any form of participation in
pagan religious rites and cultural values. This would not be as easy as it
sounds. Many Christians were members of trade guilds - stone masons,
carpenters, weavers, metal workers, etc., similar to trade unions but without
the right to strike or negotiation. Part of being in the guild was to
participate in the regular functions which would include worshipping the gods (and
Emperor) and "fitting in" with mainstream society. Those who entered
into contracts or legal disputes would have to do so in Roman courts.
Christians were likely to find little justice (favorable judgment)
there. They would be at a distinct disadvantage because of their religious
practices which separated them from their pagan neighbors and fellow
workers. If this reality of how their life is now difficult, John uses
the vision of a new Nero who will return and begin a new and more deadly reign
of terror among the Christians, those who do not have the mark of the
Beast. In chapter 14 John will compare the salvation and judgment offered by
the Beast from the sea with that which is offered by the Lamb of God.
Revelation, Chapter 14:1-5 The Lamb and the 144,000
In a new vision
("then I looked") John sees the Lamb standing on Mount Zion -
the location of the destroyed Temple in Jerusalem. Mount Zion is the Old
Testament site of the gathering place of the new Israel and
God's deliverance (Isa. 2; Mic. 4; Ps.
46:5). In later Jewish tradition the Messiah will arrive on Mount Zion
to usher in the reign (kingdom) of God. For John it represents the people of
God. With the Lamb are the symbolic 144,000 righteous who had
been sealed on earth from among the twelve tribes of Israel (7:4-8) and have the Lamb's and God's
name on their foreheads (the seal). The image of those who are sealed
is John's assurance to the churches that those who persevere in their
faith/righteousness will share the same redemption as the 144,000.
Amid the heavenly
sounds associated with God are heard the notes of harpists in accompaniment to
the singing of a new song learned only by the redeemed 144,000 (Ps. 144:9). Their righteousness is
defined by their not having been "defiled with women, for they are
virgins." It would be easy to misunderstand John's association of sexual
contact with women as defilement. John has used military terms to picture the
saints as the army of God (7:1-8) that
are part of the battle against evil. In the Old Testament we read that those
under arms (and serving as priests) were to abstain from sexual contact
while in service to the king (1 Sam.
21:4-5; 2 Sam. 11:10-11). Paul recommends sexual abstinence "for a
season" for spiritual discipline - much like fasting. That there were
those who taught the requirement for sexual abstinence in the last
days is evident in 1 Tim.
4:1-5 where the writer acknowledges such teachings as false and
against God's will. A better understanding would be in terms of spiritual
adultery, unfaithfulness to God by worshipping idols. For John anyone who
participated in worship of the Beast (Emperor) or any other god would be
committing adultery and be thereby be defiled.
Revelation, Chapter 14:6-13 Messages of the Three Angels
John's next vision
("then I saw") consists of three angels flying in succession
in mid-heaven (in the sky). The first announces the "eternal
good news" to all the earth that now is the time for giving glory to
God (and not to the Beast) for God's judgment has come (see Mk. 1:15 for an early example
of "the time"). John appropriately uses "good news" as a
counter point to its use in the Imperial cult to announce the words and mighty
deeds of the Emperor to whom the worshippers give praise and glory.
The second angel announces that "Babylon the great" has fallen (Isa. 21:9; Jer. 51:6-7). Babylon is the
widely used metaphor for Rome. As God is credited with the fall of Babylon
and the release of the Jews from their captivity, so John envisions that
God has caused the fall of Rome as part of judgment. Included in
God's judgment and wrath are "all the nations" which have been made
to "drink of the wine of [Rome's] fornication," worshipping the Beast
instead of God. The third angel shouts out the terrible fate of those who bear
the mark of the Beast and worship its image. "The wine of God's
wrath" that is " poured into "the cup of [God's]
anger" is described in terms of sulfur and eternal fire -
a metaphorical representation of hell. The image has little scriptural
support but is widely used in some circles to "motivate"
confessions of faith when the message of God's love in Christ is
deemed insufficient. While some use John's words to fashion doctrines of
the fate of "outsiders" his primary purpose is that of a
warning to the "insiders" who ponder the question of just how
terrible it can be to join some friends in an occasional bit of idol
worship. John's answer is, "you have no idea." It is an
exhortation to avoid any level of association with such pagan practices.
John interprets the
three announcements as a warning and a promise to the churches. What is
necessary in the face of God's judgment is their endurance, keeping God's
commandments and "holding fast to their faith in Jesus." According
to the voice of the Spirit from heaven this endurance and
perseverance will lead to a blessing for those who "die in the Lord,"
with their uncompromising, unadulterated, unsoiled faith intact. Such
as these will "rest from their labors" and be blessed by the
godliness of their deeds. In view of the theme of the next passage, John has in
mind those who have been martyred because of their endurance until death.
Revelation, Chapter 14:14-20 Reaping the Earth's Harvest
The angel of vs. 7 announced that God's
judgment has come. In this passage we read John's vision in which the judgment
is described in agricultural terms as two harvests: one of wheat and the
other a vineyard harvest. In this vision John sees "one like the
Son of man" seated on a cloud" (Dan.
7:13), a clear reference to Jesus' role as the agent of judgment
emphasized in all four Gospels (Mt.
26:63-64). He is wearing a golden crown and holds a sharp sickle. An angel
comes out of the heavenly temple calling upon the "one who sat on the
cloud" to use his sickle because the "harvest of the earth is fully
ripe" (the judgment has come). As the first of two harvests, the
second being for grapes, this one is the grain harvest - the first fruits of
the earth (see vs.4-5). It is
represented by the symbolic completeness of 144,000 on earth who were
sealed (7:1-8) and gathered into
God's kingdom.
The second harvest
of the judgment has often been a stumbling block for many readers of
Revelation. Its graphic image of bridle-deep blood covering approximately
125,664 square miles, is so gruesome the very thought of it is repulsive.
Little wonder this image has led so many to reject a God who is presented as
the God who loves the world. When coupled with the image of eternal suffering
in the fire of hell the Christian religion becomes more about fear than love.
One of our difficulties rests in the difference between the literal and the
metaphorical or symbolic. John's (and others') visions are not doctrines. They
are hyperbolic comparisons between life with God and life without God. John's visions
establish the widest possible set of opposites - hell or heaven, where
hell is existence apart from God.
Perhaps we can
assuage the anguish of making sense of a blood soaked earth by reading the
text and related passages more closely. One key is found in vs. 13 which introduces the
blessedness of the dead who from now on die in the Lord. "From now
on" is a reference to John's expectation of mass martyrdom as a product of
the times of tribulation/judgment before the end. As God presses the assault on
the dragon the attacks on the saints increase. This is apparent in his visions
of the two beasts who have received the authority and power of the dragon. It
is especially so with the first beast who is "allowed to make war on the
saints and conquer (kill) them." The "gathering of the clusters
of the vine" where the vine, as in Isa. 5:1-7 (also Jer.
2:21; Ezek. 19:10) represents God's people, is the gathering of the
martyrs whose blood has been shed by the beast. It is their blood that is the
product of the winepress "of the wrath of God." One other important
key is found in vs. 20 where
the winepress is located "outside the city." The reference is to
the place of crucifixion outside of Jerusalem's city walls. It is
the place of blood, specifically Jesus' blood and his death as a martyr on
the cross. It is also the place that Christian tradition calls Christians to
gather and to suffer with Christ (Heb.
13:11-14). We see here a clear connection between the winepress and the
blood of the martyrs. One other reference that may be helpful is In Mt 21:33-41, Jesus' parable of the
wicked tenants. At the end of the parable the vine owner's son is sent to
gather the harvest. He is thrown "outside the vineyard" and killed by
the evil tenants. The allegorical meaning is transparent and those of John's
churches whose blood has been and will be shed outside John's
visionary city have shared in Christ's death and blessed for having
"died in the Lord,"
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