Revelation 14

A WEDNESDAY NIGHT BOOK STUDY
EDGEMONT BIBLE CHURCH
FALL 2009-SPRING 2010
MARCH 10, 2010
THE SEVENTH TRUMPET - Part 9
REVELATION CHAPTER 14:1-20
THE SEVENTH SEAL
(What about Israel?)

IX. THE SEVENTH SEAL IS OPENED (Continued from previous week)
[Note: there is war in heaven. Seems to be about Truth and Deception, not carnal weaponry. Ex. Jesus’ temptation: Holiness versus Evil.]
K. The Seventh Trumpet sounds - The 144,000, the angels announcements and the harvest judgment (Continued from previous weeks)
…a. The vision is still on earth - the Lamb is standing on Mount Zion
……1. This is Mount Zion, Jerusalem on earth and there is no threat to is well-being or safety; He is not running, hiding, fighting; this is Jesus as the Redeemer
……2. The setting is after the horrible days of the two beasts and the dragon’s murderous persecution of those believing in God; we have just “fast-forwarded” to the end of the Great Tribulation (Rev 12:7-13:18)
…… 3. The 144,000 Jewish men (Israelites) who were sealed by God (Rev 7:1-8) are standing with him.(This is the New Covenant of Ezek 36)
 Have His Father’s name written in their foreheads
 Are redeemed from the earth, from among men
 Men not defiled with women; virgins
 Follow the Lamb wherever He goes
 First fruits to God and the Lamb
 No guile is found in their mouth
 Without fault before the throne of God

…b. Sounds from heaven speaking to the Lamb and the 144,000
……1. A voice speaks; it has the sound of “many waters” (waterfall? White water rapids?); It has the sound of loud thunder. Unclear whether this is a single voice, whether it is speaking or singing, whether it is judging or rejoicing
……2. Unidentified harpists are heard playing their harps; not only are they unidentified but it is not clear if they are singing as they are playing. We know from earlier accounts the 24 elders have harps but we do not know if they are the ones playing here. Harps are instruments of praise.
……3. If the harpists are the elders they cannot be singing for the singing is being done before the throne, the four living creatures and the elders.
…c. Looks like the 144,000 may be the singers and they have a direct link to the throne of God. No one can learn the song except the 144,000 50 we propose that they are the ones singing back to heaven to the
accompaniment of the heavenly harpists. There is no real distance between heaven and earth when faith, hope, redemption, love and praise are involved.
…d. Three angels make announcements as the one-by-one fly through heaven.
…… 1. The first angel in a loud voice proclaims the everlasting gospel to everyone on earth defined here as every ethnic group, every tribe, every language group, every people
 Fear God (be being in fear)
 Give to Him glory
 The hour of His judgment has come
 Give Him His worth (worship Him)
 He made the heaven, the earth, the sea and the springs of water
…… 2. The second angel of the same kind and in the same way says
Fallen, Fallen is Babylon pronounced as a completed situation
* Babylon is described as that great city (great because of its age; its role in promoting evil idolatry in the world; its commerce as a world commercial center)
 Babylon is described as great because she made all nations
drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. She made them drink because she took advantage of the perverse lusts in human flesh and gave them what they were looking for. Wine because of its captivating, addictive, intoxicating, behavior-modifying and life-destroying power. Wrath because it is filled with ungodly passion, rebellion, rage, violence and hatred of God. Fornication here as spiritual immorality; disloyalty to the maker and lover of the soul of man; illicit relationships with the “gods” of their own making and of demonic origin.
……3. The third angel of the same kind and in the same way pronounces judgment
* on those who have worshipped the beast and his image, who have received his mark on his forehead or his hand
*shall also drink (since he has drunk to the fullest drunkenness the wine of Babylon) the wine of the wrath of God which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. Wine because of its intoxicating, life-destroying power. Wrath because it is full of God’s long-suffering anger against repeated,
multiple violations of His relationship to humanity; because it has been stored all these long years against them.
* The judgment is described as tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. Sinners in the hands of an angry God!
 The smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever
 They have no rest day or night
 The angel then pronounces the blessing of those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus; he calls it their patient endurance - something worth waiting for in spite of all trials, temptations and persecutions
 John gets to record this blessing for us in these words
‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’ “Yes,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, and their works follow them.” Rev 14:13 (NKJV)
… e. The vision of the Son of Man sitting on a white cloud wearing a golden crown and having a sharp sickle in His hand
……1. This is Jesus as the Judge and Lord of the Harvest. The crown pictures His victory over sin, death and the curse. The sickle pictures the tool of the harvest.
……2.Yet another angel of the same kind and in the same way flies out of the temple (the Throne of God the Father) crying with a loud voice to the One seated on the cloud
 Thrust in your sickle and reap; the harvest is ripe and ready. This may not be a resurrection at all
 He thrusts in His sickle and the earth is reaped. This is the reaping of the redeemed ones; the seed the Son of Man sowed from the beginning. This is a delivery of the Tribulation believers from the wrath that is coming with the next harvesting and not necessarily a resurrection.
 Yet another angel of the same kind came out of the temple of heaven with a sickle joined by another angel of the same kind from the altar commanding the previous angel to reap what is left
 His reaping is of the wicked who bore fruit and it is cast into the winepress of the wrath of God
 The wine press is pressed to its completion and a huge multitude of the wicked die. This is probably the battle of Armageddon