The Judgments on Earth
The second of three studies of The Revelation of Jesus Christ by Paige Ramsey
“The Beginning of the End” – Lesson 9
Revelation 14
The Lamb and the 144,000
14 Then I looked, and behold, a Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and
forty-four thousand, having His Father’s name written on their foreheads. 2 And I heard a voice from heaven, like the voice of many waters, and like the voice of loud thunder. And I heard the sound of harpists playing their harps. 3 They sang as it were a new song before the throne, before the four living creatures, and the elders; and no one could learn that song except the hundred and
forty-four thousand who were redeemed from the earth. 4 These are the ones who were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These were redeemed from among men, being firstfruits to God and to the Lamb. 5 And in their mouth was found no deceit, for they are without fault before the throne of God.
The Proclamations of Three Angels
6 Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth—to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people— 7 saying with a loud voice, “Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water.”
8 And another angel followed, saying, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.”
9 Then a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, 10 he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. 11 And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.”
12 Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.
13 Then I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, “Write: ‘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.”
Reaping the Earth’s Harvest
14 Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and on the cloud sat One like the Son of Man, having on His head a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle. 15 And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, “Thrust in Your sickle and reap, for the time has come for You to reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.” 16 So He who sat on the cloud thrust in His sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped.
Reaping the Grapes of Wrath
17 Then another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle.
18 And another angel came out from the altar, who had power over fire, and he cried with a loud cry to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, “Thrust in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for her grapes are fully ripe.” 19 So the angel thrust his sickle into the earth
and gathered the vine of the earth, and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. 20 And the winepress was trampled outside the city, and blood came out of the winepress, up
to the horses’ bridles, for one thousand six hundred furlongs.
We have now come to the beginning of the end of the Great Tribulation Period – the time of destruction.
I took much of this lesson from Dr. Dan W. Cozart’s messages The Beginning of the End and Preparing to Pour Out the Seven Bowls. In the first message, he gives us a bit of insight into John Phillips’ comments on Chapter 14:
John Phillips in his commentary makes this statement, ‘With Chapter 14 there comes a change and
a turning of the tide. The ebb sets in and flows faster and faster as God takes over in direct and
determined intervention in the affairs of men. From here on, we have set before us a picture of the
world rescued by God.’ As I was reading Phillips, I wondered about that statement: we have set
before us a picture of the world rescued by God. I believe he meant by that – and since he’s not here
to straighten us out on it, I’ll just tell you what I think he meant by it – the world will be purged from
all ungodliness, from all death and all destruction: ‘There will be peace in the valley for me!’”
The Lamb & the 144,000
There are two Mt. Zions spoken about in the Bible – an earthly Mt. Zion and a heavenly Mt. Zion. In
Psalm 48:1-2, 8, 11-13 we find that Jerusalem is the earthly Mt. Zion. Hebrews 12:22 is speaking of the heavenly Mt. Zion. In this chapter, John is speaking of the earthly Mt. Zion – earthly Jerusalem. God protected them during the Tribulation, and obviously took the 144,000 alive into heaven like Enoch, Elijah, and the raptured Saints.
Phillips says that Psalm 91:1-13 is the marching song of the 144,000 as they marched during the tribulation with the seals of God on their foreheads and the message of the gospel. God safely watched over them and not one was lost or MIA. This is God’s protection – complete and secure. God has placed His seal of protection on all His saints today. We do not need to fear evil or calamity. God has us in His Almighty hands and nothing can harm us. Yes, we feel pain. Yes, we feel loss. Yes, sometimes our jobs are on the line because of our stand for Christ. Yes, sometimes our lives are on the line because of our obedience to Christ. But through it all,
God’s protection is secure. He will not allow anything to overcome us that He hasn’t allowed and for which He hasn’t provided. Even in our earthly death, He is there, waiting to reward us for our obedience. I can just see these missionaries, marching through the streets of Jerusalem – through the Muslim dominance – through the descendants of Ishmael – happy, singing, and glad to have a mission from the Lord to accomplish. They are singing a new song – a song no one seems to know, yet they are belting it out with joy as they seek out
anyone who will listen to their message.
These are they… the 144,000. Notice that they are exemplary in their conduct (morally pure – faultless before the throne of God). I don’t know if any of us in America today can even relate to that. We face such blatant immorality today that most of us wouldn’t even understand complete moral purity.
I remember the first time I went to a theater and was embarrassed to be there. I was in the eighth grade in 1968. My best friend, Rhonda Nelson, and I went to see a science fiction movie that the theater wasn't showing on the Saturday matinee that we always went to, so we went at night. The movie entitled Barbarella was playing and Jane Fonda’s costume exposed one of her breasts. What made it so much more embarrassing
was that a teacher of ours saw us there, and asked us what we were doing there. We thought he meant we shouldn’t be out so late without parental supervision. As the movie played, Rhonda and I scrunched lower and lower in our seats, and we left before the ending so we wouldn’t have to see our teacher again. That was
before anyone had ever heard of movie ratings. Parents deemed all movies decent because Hollywood had to follow certain rules of morality. We didn’t know we were on the verge of a sexual revolution.
In 1980, Gene and I walked out of a movie theater and demanded our money back because it was blatantly obscene and we could not support it. The movie was Airplane. I would walk out of it again today, but they would not give my money back today. I’m glad we can now consult the internet before paying to see a movie, but that privilege has only allowed filthier language and obscenities on the screen. Today, I cannot even watch all the things shown on our television, which only a few years ago producers and the FCC much protected as it was coming into homes with young children. Even the wicked respected the home.
Today, the courts have declared it is perfectly all right and normal for a perverted homosexual couple to adopt
children and raise them. Everywhere we look, people promote sex. Movies promote it. Television promotes it. Advertisers promote it. Even schools promote it. Schools have a sixth grade prom. That is disgusting. Why do they promote dating in the sixth grade and then spend millions of dollars and who knows how many hours trying to figure out how to curtail the teenage pregnancies? Young people today believe sex is the ultimate pastime. They have seen it being the main topic all of their lives, and they can’t wait to try it. The news announced a few weeks ago that a third grader had an abortion. Third grade! I didn’t know anything about sex in the third grade – or the fourth, or the fifth, or the sixth.
Immorality overtakes us to the point that preachers have to declare from their pulpits that if the ladies have cleavage showing, they need to go home and put some clothes on. We don’t know how to be morally upright anymore. But these 144,000 missionaries are morally pure before God. Wow!
They are also pure in their consecration. They have an absolute devotion to Christ! Threatening them with their jobs will do no good. They will continue to declare the message of Christ. Tell them their lives will be at stake, and they will proclaim even louder, knowing that they are sealed and protected. God has also sealed us today. Where are our Christian leaders who will defy the law to tell others about Christ – even though they are
charged and face penalties?
The 144,000 are also pure in their calling. God calls them “the firstfruits,” representing all those who will be
saved during the Tribulation. They are not lazy, trying to get out of doing what God has appointed them to do. They are busy, even anxious to go out into the hostile environment of the Anti-Christ run world and preach the Word of God.
The Seven Angels
Angels are messengers who always stand ready to take their orders and go.
1. The First Angel carries the everlasting gospel to preach to the entire world – to every nation, tribe,
tongue, and people. No angel preaches grace. God does not assign angels to preach the good news of
Christ’s propitiation on the cross. This “gospel” or “good news” is a cry of warning for everyone to fear
God and worship Him because His Judgment is now here.
2. The Second Angel in verse 8 cries out, “Babylon is fallen!” Just in case you think Babylon fell many long
years ago and no longer exists, you need to understand that Babylon is alive and well today. That great
city, where they built and abandoned the Tower of Babel still exists. At least, the spirit of that city exists
– the spirit of rebellion against God – the spirit of creating false religion. In Chapter 18, we will see the
fall of Babylon.
3. The Third Angel in verses 9–11 cries out the punishment: “If anyone worships the Beast and his
image…” The people had a choice. They did not have to get the mark. People are reluctant to choose
Christ today because of all the negative slander against Christians – at least against committed
Christians who will stand up for what they believe. At that time, they will have to choose to follow the
Anti-Christ or die. How many people who are dead in their sins, without Spiritual discernment or
guidance will make that kind of decision? They could have chosen death, which would have been better.
4. The Fourth Angel in verse 13 cries, “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord!” I heard a message this
week from an evangelist who said, “We spend more time praying to keep people out of heaven than we
spend praying to keep people out of hell.”
completely right! Most of our prayer requests ask the Lord to heal Christian brothers and sisters. It is
natural for us to not want someone we love to suffer with illness or to make that final journey...
but why aren’t we spending time in prayer for souls who are lost to come to know the Lord? Our loved
ones in Christ will not taste death. There is no soul sleeping in the Bible! The dead in Christ are rejoicing
and are happy. They are not asleep in the grave awaiting the resurrection. The word translated “rest”
here does not mean inactivity, but rather refreshment. When you get to heaven you will be serving the
Lord forever – but it won’t be taxing – His yoke is easy, His burden is light.
5. The Fifth Angel in verse 15 appears with Christ who has a sharp sickle in His hand. The angel carries the
message from the Father that the time is right to reap the harvest. These verses (14–20) give us a
sneak preview to the Battle of Armageddon. Notice there are two harvests mentioned: Christ makes the
first thrust in verses 14-16, the sixth angel makes the second thrust in verses 17-20.
This [is] quite possibly connected with the parable of the wheat and the tares in Matt 13:24-30.
When wheat ripens, the heads bow to the ground but tares remain unbending. When wheat
ripens, the roots die and release their hold on the earth and are ready to be plucked up but the
tares remain and grow deeper into the earth. The second thrust is the harvest of the grapes.
The vine is the counterfeit religious system. Jesus is the true vine, but there are counterfeit
vines [and] grapes that hold onto the counterfeit system. Isaiah 63:1-4. J.M. Carroll said that
during the Dark Ages, 50,000,000 people were put to death by the system. What was the
system? Roman Catholicism.
There are many counterfeit religious systems: Jehovah Witnesses, Mormons, Christian Science, and
others, but the biggest, most respected, most deceiving is Roman Catholicism. Jesus is the True Vine.
Believing in any system or individual applies here. If you are just believing in what a man has taught or a
church doctrine, no matter if that doctrine is Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, etc. If you have
put your trust in what men (or a church) have taught rather than what the Holy Spirit teaches you from
God’s Word, you are holding onto the wrong vine. You must completely trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and
His death on the cross to pay for your sins. "Believe (completely trust in) on the Lord Jesus Christ, and
you will be saved." Acts 16:31
6. The Sixth Angel in verse 17 also has a sharp sickle in his hand and waits for his orders.
7. The Seventh Angel cries to the Sixth Angel to go forth and reap the earthly vines because they are fully
ripe. Sin finally makes its completion in wickedness, and those who followed the path of sin have
become fully ingrained in its pleasure. When the Angel reaps the grapes who have been clinging to the
wrong vine, the massacre will be more intense than anything the world has ever seen.
Verse 20 tells us that during the Battle of Armageddon, the blood will flow up to the horses bridle for 200 miles. In 70 AD, when Titus destroyed Jerusalem, Josephus said that the blood flowed so deep that it put out the fires of some of the buildings. We won’t study the Battle of Armageddon in its entirety until we get to Chapter 19.
Preparing to Pour Out the Bowl Judgments
Revelation 15
Prelude to the Bowl Judgments
15 Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous: seven angels having the seven last plagues, for in them the wrath of God is complete.
2 And I saw something like a sea of glass mingled with fire, and those who have the victory over the beast, over his image and over his mark and
over the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, having harps of God.
3 They sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song
of the Lamb, saying:
“Great and marvelous are
Your works,
Lord God Almighty!
Just and true are
Your ways,
O King of the saints!
4 Who shall not fear
You, O Lord, and glorify Your name?
For You
alone are holy.
For all
nations shall come and worship before You,
For Your judgments have been
manifested.”
5 After
these things I looked, and behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony
in heaven was opened. 6 And out of the temple came the seven
angels having the seven plagues, clothed in pure bright linen, and having their
chests girded with golden bands. 7 Then one of the four living
creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God
who lives forever and ever. 8 The temple was filled with smoke
from the glory of God and from His power, and no one was able to enter the
temple till the seven plagues of the seven angels were
completed.
Heaven is preparing again. These last seven
and most terrible plagues will complete the judgments of God upon the earth. The
first thing we see is a great and marvelous sign in heaven. We have seen two
other great signs in heaven in this study. The first one was in Rev.
12:1. John saw a great wonder (semeion say-mīʹ-on
– a miracle, sign, wonder) “…a woman
clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of
twelve stars…” This woman is the nation of Israel. The second one was in
Rev. 12:3: “And there appeared
another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and
ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.” This dragon is Lucifer, Satan,
the Serpent, or the Devil. This third marvelous sign in heaven appears with
seven angels holding the seven last plagues to complete the wrath of
God.
Again, John sees a sea of glass. The first
time he saw this sea of glass was when he first came into God’s Throne Room in
Rev. 4:6. At that time, the sea was tranquil. Now, after the seven seals
have been broken, the first six trumpets have sounded, and the Great Tribulation
is half over, John sees the sea mingled with fire. It is no longer peaceful, but
raging. Upon the sea, those who are victorious over the Beast (Anti-Christ) are
standing before God singing two songs: the song of Moses and the song of the
Lamb. You can find the song of Moses in Deuteronomy 32:1-43. John writes
down the song of the Lamb in verses 3 and 4. Even people who say they don’t
enjoy singing will sing in heaven! God is pleased with music and songs of praise
to Him!
At this time, all the saved are safely
residing in heaven. The bodies of the saints who died prior to Christ coming in
the clouds rose at His coming and reunited with their spirits, then the saints
who were alive rose at Christ’s coming in the clouds and Christ took them to
heaven. The 144,000 are in heaven. Now, the souls of all who are beheaded for
Christ are in heaven, and if there are any who believed in Christ that the
Anti-Christ missed with his guillotine, Christ has brought them up to heaven as
well. None of God's children remain on the earth; no one comes to know the Lord
from this point forward. God’s patience is finished. He prepares to blow out His
final breaths of anger as the angels pour the bowls upon the earth. God does not
pour His wrath all at once, but divides them into seven bowls. If the angels
poured them all at once, the end would be too quick for the judgment to be
satisfactory.
I
cannot imagine being on the earth facing a warrior angel armed with the wrath of
God Almighty. That is not where I want to be, and I praise the Lord that He has
paid for my sins so that I will never have to face the judgment for them! God is
a very patient, long suffering God, who is not willing that any of His children
would perish, but that all will come to repentance. It has been at least six
thousand years since Satan deceived Eve and about five thousand since He
destroyed the world with the flood. It has been over two thousand years since
Christ was born and nearly two thousand years since He became the Sacrifice for
our sins. God’s patience is not eternal. He is a God of wrath. He will not allow
the world to get away with the blasphemous smears and horrendous sins against
Him.
sermon: The Beginning of the End,
2-21-2010.
Building a Kingdom Significant Church,
11-3-2013.
sermon: The Beginning of the End,
2-21-2010.