An angel flies through the heavens proclaiming the message of the gospel and prophesying the doom of all Satan’s maneuverings. John has been warned about the power of the beast and the seal it hopes to stamp on humankind (Chapter 13). There follows a hope-filled promise – blessed are those who live and die in the Lord!
(*All Bible verses are from the NIV unless otherwise noted)
Chapter 14:7-13
7 He said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.”
8 A second angel followed and said, “ ‘Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great,’ which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries.”
9 A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand,
10 they, too, will drink the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb.
11 And the smoke of their torment will rise for ever and ever. There will be no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name.”
12 This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus.
13 Then I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.”
Rev 14:7
Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come, and worship him:
The Hebrew word yir’ah (yir-aw’), fear, implies a sincere moral reverence1:
Psa 34:11 Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD. 12 Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days, 13 keep your tongue from evil and your lips from telling lies. 14 Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. 15 The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, and his ears are attentive to their cry…
Non-believers scoff at the idea of fearing (giving reverence to) God, claiming it’s just a way to frighten people into obedience. It’s interesting that those who don’t believe have no fear of God, and the closer one comes to the Lord, the more He is held in awe and reverence.
Rev 14:8
Fallen, Fallen is Babylon the Great:
It may seem strange that an angel announcing doom immediately follows the angel with good news. But the gospel has always been a double-edged message. It heralds good news for those who embrace it but warns of great loss for those who reject it.
Isa 21:9-10 Look, here comes a man in a chariot with a team of horses. And he gives back the answer: ‘Babylon has fallen, has fallen! All the images of its gods lie shattered on the ground!’ ” 10 My people who are crushed on the threshing floor, I tell you what I have heard from the LORD Almighty, from the God of Israel.
Jer 51:7-8 Babylon was a gold cup in the LORD’s hand; she made the whole earth drunk. The nations drank her wine; therefore, they have now gone mad. 8 Babylon will suddenly fall and be broken. Wail over her! Get balm for her pain; perhaps she can be healed.
Assyria, Babylon, and Egypt continually threatened ancient Israel with annihilation and are used throughout the Bible as metaphors for sin, bondage, and destruction. Peter used the same image, possibly referring to Rome, the center of immorality and idolatry:
1Pet 5:13 She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, sends you her greetings, and so does my son Mark.
This reference to the ancient empire foreshadows the full discussion to come in chapter 17. As we saw in Rev 11:8, it may do an injustice to John’s message to limit the current image of Babylon to just the Roman Empire or the city of Jerusalem. The Holy City and the Empire had become reflections of ancient Babylon – proud, idolatrous, and persecutors of God’s people – a picture of a rebellious world that rejects the saving grace of Jesus as irrelevant and foolish:
1Cor 1:18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. 19 For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.” 20 Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. 22 Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
Rev 14:8
Which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries:
Jeremiah prophesied against the Babylonian Empire that was destroying and enslaving Israel (c. 627 BC):
Jer 51:7 Babylon was a gold cup in the LORD’s hand; she made the whole earth drunk. The nations drank her wine; therefore they have now gone mad.
Ancient Israel fell into the same idolatry as Babylon, setting up altars to pagan gods and forgetting the true God who had established them in their promised land. Again and again, the prophets used prostitution as an allegory for unfaithfulness to God:
Ezek 16:10 I clothed you with an embroidered dress and put sandals of fine leather on you. I dressed you in fine linen and covered you with costly garments… 15 “ ‘But you trusted in your beauty and used your fame to become a prostitute. You lavished your favors on anyone who passed by and your beauty became his. 16 You took some of your garments to make gaudy high places, where you carried on your prostitution. You went to him, and he possessed your beauty.
Isa 1:21 See how the faithful city has become a prostitute! She once was full of justice; righteousness used to dwell in her— but now murderers!
Jer 3:3 Therefore the showers have been withheld, and no spring rains have fallen. Yet you have the brazen look of a prostitute; you refuse to blush with shame.
(see also, Isa 23:16, Jer 2:20, Ezek 23:7, 23:19, 23:43-44)
Paul refers to the same fallen state of non-believers:
Rom 1:24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
The four horsemen, the destroying mountain of Babylon, the star Wormwood, the angel Apollyon, the beasts – all symbolize the evil forces of the world that are allowed to tyrannize God’s children for a time2. But, the judgment of God – the giving up of rebellious humankind to the consequences of their evil actions – gives way to the ultimate proclamation: Babylon has fallen! This is a wonderful message for believers of all generations. Caird states:
There is no hope for the rehabilitation of the alcoholic until the source of his supply is cut off. As long as men are being made drunk with the heady wine of Babylon’s seductions, they are not free to accept the cup of salvation. Only the fall of Babylon can liberate her fuddled dupes.3
Christians know that where Jesus’ example of peace and love is lived out, communities prosper, lives flourish, and eternity stands open:
1 Cor 15:51-55 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” 55 “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”
Rev 21:4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
Rev 14:9
If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand, they, too, will drink the wine of God’s fury:
What sin could merit a warning this severe? Every person makes grievous mistakes and falls short of God’s glory (Rom 3:23[i]). All the disciples deserted Jesus when they could have stood with him (Matt 26:56). Peter denied even knowing him (Jn 18:25[ii]), and Thomas had serious doubts that his Lord had risen (Jn 20:24-25[iii]). At first, James, the Lord’s own brother, didn’t accept Jesus as Messiah (John 7:3-5[iv]) but later believed and became the head of the Church in Jerusalem. Saul maliciously sought to harm believers (Acts 8:3[v]), yet when faced with the truth (Acts 9:3-6[vi]) repented and became one of the greatest Apostles.
The difference, of course, is that these disciples repented and turned faithfully to God. God’s wrath (the inevitable consequences of unrepentant sinning) falls squarely on those who refuse to live in the love and peace offered by Christ.
Isa 63:10 Yet they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit. So he turned and became their enemy and he himself fought against them.
Matt 12:31-32 31 And so I tell you, every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. 32 Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.
The warning is given, but the promise stands sure:
2 Chron 7:14 …if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
Jere 36:3 Perhaps when the people of Judah hear about every disaster I plan to inflict on them, they will each turn from their wicked ways; then I will forgive their wickedness and their sin.”
Jere 31:34 No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the LORD. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”
John 14:16 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.
John 15:26 “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me.
John 16:13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.
Unfortunately, there are those who know the truth of God yet refuse to repent. They willfully and knowingly reject God and even go so far as to encourage others to do the same. They, like the rebellious of Jer 14:10 and 2 Thes 2:10-12, recognize what is true and right but delight more in wickedness and destruction. That heart does not want, nor will it accept forgiveness.
Rev 14:10
They will be tormented with burning sulfur:
This warning is a reflection of the demise of Sodom and Gomorrah:
Gen 19:24 Then the LORD rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the LORD out of the heavens. 25 Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, destroying all those living in the cities—and also the vegetation in the land.
Those who rebel against God and refuse to accept his love and salvation suffer separation from Him. That suffering is symbolized by the destruction caused by fire and sulfuric fumes. In the eternal sense, the exact nature of that suffering isn’t clear, but John’s vision declares that there will be a judgment day at the end of time.
Every soul will be judged, and afterward, they will either go to a place of blessing and peace or to a place of shame, loss, and separation from the Father, symbolized by the smoldering trash heaps of the Valley of Gehenna – hell4:
Psalms 11:6 On the wicked he will rain fiery coals and burning sulfur; a scorching wind will be their lot.
Isa 30:33 Topheth has long been prepared; it has been made ready for the king. Its fire pit has been made deep and wide, with an abundance of fire and wood; the breath of the LORD, like a stream of burning sulfur, sets it ablaze.
Ezek 38:22 I will execute judgment on him with plague and bloodshed; I will pour down torrents of rain, hailstones and burning sulfur on him and on his troops and on the many nations with him.
Rev 14:11
And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night:
Smoke on the horizon is the witness for all to see that something is being consumed.
Genesis 19:28 He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the land of the plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace.
Isa 34:8 For the LORD has a day of vengeance, a year of retribution, to uphold Zion’s cause. 9 Edom’s streams will be turned into pitch, her dust into burning sulfur; her land will become blazing pitch! 10 It will not be quenched night or day; its smoke will rise forever. From generation to generation it will lie desolate; no one will ever pass through it again.
The picture of Sodom and Gomorrah represents the fate of those who reject God, whose ultimate end is the “second death” 5. A literal reading of John’s words pictures those who suffer the second death burning and being tormented for eternity – the theological concept of eternal conscious torture. Other scholars see fire and sulfur as symbolic images of consuming destruction – the eternal separation from God – meaning that those who consciously reject God’s redeeming love will cease to exist.
In either case, the spirit of the antichrist is revealed and defeated by the preaching of the everlasting gospel and the reality of the risen Christ. Those who persist in being subject to the beast and promoting his cause must expect to be forever miserable in soul and body6.
And who is the antichrist? John tells us it’s anyone who denies Jesus is Christ, the Anointed One, Immanuel, God with us!
1 John 2:18 Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour.
1 John 2:22 Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist—denying the Father and the Son.
1 John 4:3 but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.
1 John 4:3 …but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.
Consider the vivid images Job’s friend Bildad employs to describe the consequences that always follow a life that constantly chooses evil rather than good:
Job 18:5 “The lamp of a wicked man is snuffed out; the flame of his fire stops burning. 6 The light in his tent becomes dark; the lamp beside him goes out. 7 The vigor of his step is weakened; his own schemes throw him down. 8 His feet thrust him into a net; he wanders into its mesh. 9 A trap seizes him by the heel; a snare holds him fast. 10 A noose is hidden for him on the ground; a trap lies in his path. 11 Terrors startle him on every side and dog his every step. 12 Calamity is hungry for him; disaster is ready for him when he falls. 13 It eats away parts of his skin; death’s firstborn devours his limbs. 14 He is torn from the security of his tent and marched off to the king of terrors. 15 Fire resides in his tent; burning sulfur is scattered over his dwelling. 16 His roots dry up below and his branches wither above. 17 The memory of him perishes from the earth; he has no name in the land. 18 He is driven from light into the realm of darkness and is banished from the world. 19 He has no offspring or descendants among his people, no survivor where once he lived. 20 People of the west are appalled at his fate; those of the east are seized with horror. 21 Surely such is the dwelling of an evil man; such is the place of one who does not know God.”
Rev 14:12
This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus:
The Greek term used here for endurance is hupomone ( hï-po-mo-nee’), meaning to stand firm in cheerful or hopeful constancy and patient waiting; to persevere7:
Luke 21:19 Stand firm, and you will win life.
Rom 5:3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope.
Rom 15:4 For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope. 5 May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had…What does this mean for any believer at any point of history?
Rev 14:13
Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord:
The dark fear of death has held mankind captive from the beginning of time. Belief in the promise of Christ’s resurrection brings complete freedom from that terror.
1Cor 15:54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” 55 Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”
Athanasius, one of the Early Church Fathers, wrote:
All the Disciples of Christ despise death; they take the offensive against it and, instead of fearing it, by the sign of the cross and by faith in Christ trample on it as on something dead. Before the divine sojourn of the Savior even the holiest of men were afraid of death, and mourned the dead as those who perish. But now that the Savior has raised His body, death is no longer terrible, but all those who believe in Christ tread it underfoot as nothing, and prefer to die rather than to deny their faith in Christ, knowing full well that when they die, they do not perish, but live indeed, and become incorruptible through the resurrection. (Athanasius, On the Incarnation, pp. 42f.)
Footnotes
- Strong’s H3374. ↩︎
- Rev 6:1-8; 8:8-11; 9:11; 11:7, 18. ↩︎
- Caird, p. 184. ↩︎
- Refer to the notes on Rev 1:18. ↩︎
- Rev 2:11, 20:6, 20:14, 21:8. ↩︎
- Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary, Rev 14:10. ↩︎
- Strong’s G5281. ↩︎
*All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.comThe “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™
