It helps to know that the visions in Revelation aren't always presented in chronological order. There are interludes in the overall sequence of 7 seals, 7 trumpets and 7 bowls. These interludes should be read as "Meanwhile . . ." or "Here's another way to look at it".
Chapters 12 --15 form an interlude between the trumpets and the bowls. This interlude includes a number of different visions: the woman and the dragon in chapter 12, the two beasts in chapter 13, the Lamb and 144,000 in chapter 14:1-5, and the harvest of the earth in chapter 14:6 -20. Although these visions relate to one another, they aren't sequential. Some visions are a kind of historical overview (the woman and the dragon). Some visions describe events that have occurred time and again during the church age and but will also have a more complete fulfillment in the future. For instance, believers have had to endure forced worship of false gods (beasts) in many times and places, but there will be a time when the events of chapter 13 will be more completely fulfilled.
So we come to the visions of chapter 14. These visions are related to one another in two ways: 1) they use harvest imagery and 2) they reveal the outcome of being marked.
We saw in chapter 13 that people all over the world will be required to wear a mark of the beast, or to identify themselves with the beast. But those who worship God have already been marked by him. They were set apart, sealed with his name (7:3-8). In the end times it will be obvious that no person can really be unaffiliated; each of us must worship -- and so be marked by --someone. We will either worship the beast or we will worship the Lamb.
Everything depends on this choice.
In chapter 14:1-5 we see that those identified with God (they have the Lamb's name and the Father's name written on their foreheads)* appear before the Lamb and the very throne of God blameless and with great joy (Jude 24). They become the "special offering" to God, which is literally the "firstfruits". According to Mosaic Law, a sheaf of grain from the very first harvest each year had to be presented before God in recognition that God is Lord of the harvest (Deut. 26:9-10; Lev. 23:9-14). Here we have a picture of redeemed people as firstfruits, appearing before the Lord of the harvest.
In verses 6-20 we have another vision and "another way to look at it". First there are 3 proclamations brought by 3 angels. The first angel urges all people to worship God. The second angel proclaims the destruction of Babylon (this city represents part of the world system set up against the worship of God). This can be seen as another warning sign for those who continue to worship the beast: what they worship and all things aligned with what they worship are doomed to destruction. The final angel proclaims outright that those who worship the beast are bound for destruction.
After the last warnings are given, the end has come. The story of the final judgment is condensed and, again, described in harvest imagery (Joel 3:12-13). Jesus appears in a cloud (Lk. 21:27) as the Son of Man (Dan. 7:13). Jesus harvests those who belong to him. Notice that a message was brought to Jesus from the Father telling him the time for harvest had come; Jesus said that even he didn't know the exact time (Mt. 24:36). The harvesting of those who worshipped the beast is done by angels, as predicted by Jesus in Mt. 13:37.
Those who have refused to worship God are destroyed. In this vision, the destruction is pictured as grapes trampled in a winepress. In contrast, those who worshipped God stand blameless in his presence; they "shine like the sun in their Father's kingdom" (Mt 13:43).
Everything depends on who we worship.
*The 144,000 described in this passage and chapter 7 have variously been interpreted as 1) a special group of Jewish converts, 2) martyrs, and 3) all the redeemed, the universal church. Since all believers have been sealed (Eph. 1:13-14), have been baptized into his name (Mt.28:19) and stand blameless before him (Jude 24), I chose to explain the passage in terms of the entire church. However, the message of the chapter remains the same regardless of one's interpretation of the 144,000.
2 comments:
Thank you, Sue Derfus! This really helped me to understand today's reading, and the references to other parts of scripture really put it all into context and helped me to see even more of the consistency and fulfillment of The Word.
And your point that "no one is really unaffiliated - everyone will worship and be marked by someone" is really something for me to pray over when it comes to the many unbelievers that I know.
Thank you Sue. A lot really rests on my choices. ChriS
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