THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST TO HIS SERVANT JOHN
The Unveiling of the Kingdom on Earth and in Heaven
Lesson 17
Sanctions of the Covenant Treaty Lawsuit Concluded:
Chapter 14:
The Lamb, the Poisoned Cup, and the Harvest
Almighty Lord,
You are the supreme Judge and
loving Father who has elevated Your New Covenant children, by the purifying
blood of Jesus, to become citizens of the Zion that is the unshakable Kingdom
of the New Covenant Church. You have given us a new song in our earthly worship
that connects us with the liturgy in the heavenly Sanctuary and the hope of
fulfilling our destiny as members of Your assembly in the company of angels and
saints. We are grateful for our gift of eternal salvation and look forward,
after completing our earthly journey, to joining the heavenly assembly in
singing the new hymn of the Lamb in Your divine presence. Amen.
+ + +
The daughter of Zion
is left like a shanty in a vineyard, like a shed in a cucumber field, like a
city besieged. Had Yahweh Sabaoth not left us a few survivors, we should be
like Sodom, we should be the same as Gomorrah.
Isaiah 1:8-9 (8th cent BC prophecy concerning Jerusalem)
Even now the axe is being
laid to the root of the trees, so that any tree failing to produce good fruit
will be cut down and thrown on the fire.
Matthew 3:10
(John the Baptist's warning to the Old Covenant people and their religious leaders)
But what you have come to
is Mount Zion and the city of the Living God, the heavenly Jerusalem where the
millions of angels have gathered for the festival, with the whole Church of
first-born sons, enrolled as citizens of heaven. You have come to God Himself,
the supreme Judge, and to the spirits of the upright who have been made
perfect; and to Jesus, the mediator of a New Covenant, and to purifying blood
which pleads more insistently than Abel's ... We have been given possession of an
unshakeable kingdom. Let us, therefore, be grateful and use our gratitude to
worship God in the way that pleases Him, in reverence and fear."
Hebrews 12:22-24, 28
Ezekiel References in this Chapter:
In Revelation Chapters 12-13, Christ gave John the terrible vision of Satan's evil trinity: The Serpent/Dragon (Satan), the Sea Beast (the Roman Empire), and the Land Beast (the False Prophet Judea/Israel, who denies the Messiah to the world). These are the enemies assaulting the early Church, and Christ has made it clear (Chapter 13) that this satanic inspired attack will require the New Covenant Church's absolute obedience and faithfulness unto death. The revelation will be followed by a voice and a new song from Heaven (Rev 14:3, 13), proclaiming a sevenfold announcement of victory and judgment (Rev 14:2-13). The purpose of John's visions/signs and the voice from Heaven is to show that the power of God is superior to that of the Serpent Dragon/Satan and his agents.
The question that would naturally come to 1st-century believers after receiving this revelation is, "Can we survive such an immense and organized attack?" In this last section of the Sanctions portion of the Covenant Treaty, Jesus addresses these fears by giving John a message of comfort. He also provides the reasons why the Church can have confidence in the midst of suffering as well as the promise that she will overcome her enemies and will take her place (as the prophet Daniel prophesized in Daniel chapter 2) as the unshakable 5th Kingdom who will rule all nations of the earth. His message is that the holy ones of the New Israel are stronger than those who make war against her. Jesus does this by following the revelation of the 3 Satanic enemies with immediately revealing a seven-fold disclosure of victory and judgment in the heavens. Chapter 14 is the last of the Sanctions of the Covenant Treaty. It is a prelude to the victory to be completed by the King on the white horse in Revelation chapter 19 and a prelude to the total destruction of the enemies' forces in Revelation Chapters 19-20.
Revelation 14:1-5 ~ The Lamb and His companions on Mt. Zion
1 Next in
my vision, I saw Mount Zion, and standing on it the Lamb who had with him a hundred
and forty-four thousand people, all with his name and his Father's name written
on their foreheads. 2 I heard a
sound coming out of heaven like the sound of the ocean [many waters] or the
roar of thunder; it was like the sound of harpists playing their harps. 3 There before the throne, they were singing a
new hymn in the presence of the four living creatures and the elders, a hymn
that could be learnt only by the hundred and forty-four thousand who had been
redeemed from the world. 4 These
are the ones who have kept their virginity and not been defiled with women;
they follow the Lamb wherever he goes; they, out of all people, have been
redeemed to be the first-fruits for God and for the Lamb. 5 No lie was found in their mouths, and no fault
can be found in them.
Verse 1 is the third reference to Psalm 2. The other two were to Psalm 2:8, With an iron scepter, you will break them, shatter them like so many pots in Revelation 2:27 and 12:5, referring to Jesus as the victorious Davidic Messiah. In 14:1, Yahweh comforts His Church and reminds His people of His promise in Psalm 2:4-6: He who is enthroned in the heavens laughs, Yahweh makes a mockery of them, then in his anger rebukes them, in his rage he strikes them with terror. "I myself have anointed my king on Zion, my holy mountain."
Question: Where is the King-Lamb "standing," and
who stands with Him? Where have you heard of these holy ones before? See Rev 7:3-8.
Answer: He stands on Mt. Zion with the sealed
hundred and forty-four thousand from the twelve tribes who accepted Jesus as
the Messiah and were sealed on their foreheads by the Angel of the Living
God.
It is necessary to understand these verses in the context of Zion referred to in Scripture. Zion was the original name of the citadel of Jerusalem that became David's stronghold and palace on the eastern ridge of the city. Later the name was applied to the entire mountain crest (Ps 2:6) and even to the city itself (Ps 147:12; Is 1:27; 28:16) including the site of the Temple. Zion was also understood allegorically as Heaven (Heb 12:22; Rev 14:1), and as the throne of God/the city of the servants of God. The Old Testament variously called the inhabitants of Zion: "daughters" (Song of Songs); "daughter" (2 Kng 19:21; Micah 4:8, etc.), "sons" (Joel 1:12); "prophets" (Jer 23:14-15); "virgins" (Lam 2:10) or "virgin," which is the most frequent term for Zion herself in the OT (2 Kng 91:21; Is 23:12; 37:22; Jer 14:17; 18:13; 31:4, 21; Lam 1:15; 2:13; Amos 5:2). Zion was the city of Jerusalem and the earthly throne of God (the Temple), but 14:1 refers to the heavenly Zion. The New Testament mentions Mt. Zion seven times in Matthew 21:5, John 12:15, Romans 9:33, 11:26, Hebrews 12:22, 1 Peter 2:6, and Revelation 14:1, and about 150 times in the Old Testament.
Those who believe in the Resurrected Messiah who serves as the New Covenant High Priest in the heavenly Sanctuary come to the spiritual Zion in the celebration of the Mass on the Lord's Day. It is the Mass which is now the summit of man's visionary experience in the Most Holy Eucharist where covenant believers come to worship and behold the risen Jesus Christ. The new Zion is the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth established by Christ the King and it is also the future New Jerusalem that is promised at the end of the age of man when the King comes again in glory. The inspired writer of the Letter to the Hebrews refers to "Zion" as a spiritual metaphor for the promised heavenly "New Jerusalem": But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the first-born who are enrolled in heaven, and to a judge who is God of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks more graciously than the blood of Abel (Hebrews 12:22-24). See the document "Zion and the Presence of God".
Question: Where did John see the Lamb "standing"
in Revelation 5:6, and what is the significance of Mt. Zion?
Answer: In Chapter 5, the Lamb (Christ) was
"standing" in sacrifice before the throne of God.
As you will recall, in Chapter 5 we discussed the meaning of the Tamid, "Standing or Perpetual Sacrifice" in the Old Covenant Sacrificial system of the two lambs that were offered daily for the sins and sanctification of the people that were a foreshadow of Christ's passion on the Cross. Now Christ is "standing" in the heavenly Jerusalem in company with His faithful who are redeemed and restored to the new Eden of Mt Zion in perfect communion with God the Father.
Earlier, we discussed the significance of the term "mountain" concerning God's Covenant with Israel and the Temple in Jerusalem, where God's people, through the sacrificial system, were restored to communion and fellowship with Yahweh. Exodus 15:17-18 referred to "the mountain" as Israel's inheritance: You will bring them in and plant them on the mountain, which is your heritage, the place which you, Yahweh, have made your dwelling, the sanctuary, Yahweh, prepared by your own hands. The Temple in Jerusalem, located on Mt. Moriah, was God's holy mountain: Send out your light and your truth; they shall be my guide, to lead me to your holy mountain to the place where you dwell (Ps 43:3).
Question: Can you think of other examples in
Scripture where a mountain played a significant role in Salvation History?
Answer:
But Mt. Zion is more than a national symbol of Israel. Zion is a symbol of Israel as a redeemed covenant people in communion with Yahweh, the One True God. Zion is also united symbolically with the Garden of Eden, the location of which, according to the sacred Oral Tradition of the Jews and Genesis 2:10, was on a mountain. God had created the Old Covenant Church as His redeemed people to bring them back to the perfection of Eden and restored communion with Him. But now that Israel/Judah had rejected the Redeemer-Messiah, they had become "a mountain of destruction" against whom God turned His wrath just as He had in 587/6 BC: I am setting myself against you, mountain of destruction, Yahweh declares, destroyer of the whole world! I shall reach out my hand for you and send you tumbling from the crags and make you a burnt-out-mountain (Jer 51:25).
Mt. Zion is no longer Old Covenant Israel but the Kingdom of New Covenant Israel. It is what John sees in Revelation Chapter 14, and it is what the inspired writer of the Book of Hebrews wrote about in Hebrews 12:22-28 (quoted on page one of this lesson): But what you have come to is Mt. Zion and to the City of the Living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, where the millions of angels have gathered for the festival, with the whole Church of first-born sons, enrolled as citizens of heaven (Heb 12:22-23). This concept of the dwelling place of God or gods on a mountain and man's expulsion from that paradise appears in every creation legend of every ancient culture (i.e., Mt. Olympus of the Greeks). It wasn't that the Jews copied the myths of other cultures; instead, there was a collective memory of Eden expressed in the telling of the origin tales of all peoples!
In Revelation 14:1, the hundred and forty-four thousand have the Lamb's and the Father's names written on their foreheads. There are several symbolic connections:
2 I heard a sound
coming out of heaven like the sound of the ocean [many waters] or the roar of
thunder; it was like the sound of harpists playing their harps. 3 There before the throne, they were singing a
new hymn in the presence of the four living creatures and the elders, a hymn
that could be learnt only by the hundred and forty-four thousand who had been
redeemed from the world (land).
The phrase "many waters" in Scripture (Hebrew and Greek
texts) describes the awesome power of the Almighty God (e.g., in the Old
Testament see, Ps 29:3;
Job 38:34;
Jer 10:13; 51:16;
Ez 1:24; 43:2; 47:3) except
for Jeremiah 51:55 and
Revelation 17:1. In Jeremiah 51:5, "many waters"
describes the former influence of Babylon before God delivered judgment by laying
Babylon waste and silencing her monstrous din, whose waves used to roar like
the ocean [many waters]. In Revelation 17:1, the phrase describes the
influence of "the great prostitute," who is apostate Jerusalem/Judea in her
false testimony concerning Jesus Christ, and who, like Babylon, will suffer
the same fate. The phrase repeats in Revelation four times
(Rev 1:15; 14:2;
Rev 17:1; 19:6).
Question: Where have you heard about this new hymn
or new song before in Revelation? See Rev 5:9.
Answer: In Revelation 5:7-13, when John first
witnessed heavenly liturgy, he heard the four living creatures and the twenty-four
elders singing the "new song" of the Lamb. The new hymn or song is prophesized
seven times in the Old Testament
(Ps 33:13; 40:3; 96:1; 98:1; 144:9; 149:1;
Is 42:10 and mentioned twice in the New Testament
(Rev 5:9 and 14:3).
Question: Why is a "new" song necessary?
Answer: It is part of the new liturgy brought
about by the new epoch in the history of redemption. This song belongs
exclusively to the New Covenant Universal Church (see Jesus' promise in Rev 2:17).
4 These are the
ones who have kept their virginity and not been defiled with women; they follow
the Lamb wherever he goes; they, out of all people, have been redeemed to be
the first-fruits for God and for the Lamb. 5
No lie was found in their mouths, and no fault can be found in them."
There are two different major interpretations of verse 4
by Catholic commentators. The first group take the expression "defiled
themselves with women" literally, suggesting that John is speaking of literal
celibacy, and they reference Jesus' statement concerning the unique gift of celibacy
in Matthew 19:11-12: But he [Jesus] replied, "It is not everyone who
can accept what I have said, but only those to whom it is granted. There are
eunuchs born so from their mother's womb, there are eunuchs made so by human
agency and there are eunuchs who have made themselves so for the sake of the kingdom
of Heaven. Let anyone accept this who can."
In Matthew 19:11-12, Jesus is talking about three classifications of men:
Jesus' call for higher ritual purity in this passage is why the Roman Catholic Church limits the priesthood (in the majority of cases) to those men who have received the call to the "gift" of celibacy. Significantly, the Greek word for virgin uses the demonstrative pronoun outoi, which is masculine.
Notice that to make His point about the gift of celibacy, Jesus uses the word "eunuch" in a symbolic sense. He does not mean that men called to the priesthood should become physically mutilated to be candidates to serve the Bride. The second group of commentators point to this passage as an example of the symbolic use of the word "eunuch" in their interpretation of the Revelation 14:4 passage. Their point is that the use of the word "virginity" is symbolic for a pure and holy state. The New Jerusalem commentators suggest that Jesus uses the term "virgin" metaphorically just as in the Old Testament, marital infidelity is a metaphor for unfaithfulness to the covenant in the practice of idol worship and, in this case, is being contrasted with the worship of the beast. These hundred and forty-four thousand men have remained faithful and true, have rejected the worship of false gods and, the Holy Spirit, therefore, has "sealed" them to serve the Lamb.
The key phrase in this passage is, they have not been
defiled with women.
Question: Would God consider normal relations
between a man and a woman in a covenantal marriage as defilement?
Answer: Marriage has always been considered a holy
union instituted by God. Jesus made marriage between a man and a woman a
sacrament of our faith at Cana (Jn 2:1-11), so how can there be defilement?
A man could become defiled if he had fornicated (had sex outside of marriage) or committed adultery, but this passage makes no distinction between a lawful or unlawful union. In the Old Testament, chastity (sexual abstinence) was a requirement for an Israelite soldier during periods of consecration or when waging holy war: So Moses came down from the mountain [Sinai] to the people; he made the people sanctify themselves, and they washed their clothes. He then said to the people, "Be ready for the day after tomorrow; do not touch a woman" (Ex 19:14-15). The priests allowed David and his men to eat the consecrated bread in the Holy Place when David assured them he and his men were in a holy state of sexual abstinence (1 Sam 21:5/4-7/6).
Sex between a man and a woman in a covenant relationship is good, but virginity (chastity) is holy (also, see Lev 15:16; Dt 20:7; 23:10-11; 2 Sam 11:8-11). Throughout the Bible, religious fidelity is symbolically referred to as chastity (2 Cor 11:2), while fornication and harlotry are metaphors for apostasy and idolatry (Is 1:21; Jer 2:20-3:11; Ez 16:15-43; Rev 2:14, 20-22). Those who worship the beast are fornicators; those sealed by the Lamb are chaste.
John also identifies the hundred and forty-four thousand as the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. The word "follow" is a typical Biblical metaphor for the obedience of a disciple (Mt 9:9; 10:38; 16:24; Mk 9:38; 10:21, 28; Lk 9:23; Jn 8:12; 10:4-5, 27; 21:22). They also have been purchased from among men as firstfruits to God and to the Lamb. The expression "Firstfruits" refers to offering up to God the sacrificial offering of the first of the harvest of the land to Yahweh, claimed by Him as His exclusive property (Ex 22:29; 23:16, 19; Lev 23:9-21; Dt 18:4-5; Neh 10:35-27; Prov 3:9-10) in the same way God claims the firstborn sons of men and animals (Ex 13:11-16). These holy men have offered themselves up to God's service for Christ's sake and are the "firstfruits" of the Church: the first generation of the priesthood from the Old Covenant Jews and Israelites who serve Christ and His Bride. However, some commentators do not see them as the first priesthood but only as the nucleus of Old Covenant believers, men and women, who became the New Israel.
no lie was found in their mouths and no fault can be
found in them.
Question: Why are the chaste characterized this
way? See Jn 8:44, Eph 4:24-27, and Rev 12:9.
Answer: The blood of Jesus Christ, the Lamb, has cleansed
them of all sin. Truthfulness characterizes God's holy people (Eph 4:24-27).
Their condition is in contrast to the beast in the image of the Dragon, Satan, the
father of Lies (Jn 8:44; Rev 12:9) and his followers who practice worship of
the beast that is idolatry, the basic lie.
Question: According to verses 4-5, what are the
five characteristics that identify the 144,000?
Answer:
They 1. are undefiled because they are virginal/chaste (ritually pure), 2.
follow the Lamb, 3. are the "Firstfruits" of the New Covenant, 4. have no lie
found in their mouths, and 5. are blameless (without sin/in a state of grace).
1) they are not defiled, 2) they are virginal/chaste, 3) they follow the Lamb, 4) they are the "Firstfruits," 5) no lie is found in their mouth because they are blameless.
| REVELATION 14:1-5 | REVELATION 5:6-11 |
| 14:1: I saw Mt. Zion, and standing on it the Lamb | 5:6: then I saw... a Lamb standing |
| 14:2: it was like the sound of harpists playing their harps | 5:8a: each one of them was holding a harp |
| 14:3a: before the throne, they were singing a new hymn | 5:7 & 9: the One sitting on the throne... They sang a new hymn |
| 14:3b: in the presence of the four living creatures and the elders | 5:8: the four living creatures prostrated themselves ... and with them the twenty-four elders |
| 14:4: they follow the Lamb...redeemed to be the first fruits for God and the Lamb | 5:9: You bought people for God of every race, language, people, and nation |
The Book of Revelation has what some scholars call the Law of Anticipation Theory. In the second half of Revelation, notice that some of the visions are anticipated in one chapter and revealed or paralleled in the next. As we continue, observe the links between these chapters:
| Revelation Chapter 13 (the two beasts) anticipated in ==> | Chapter 11:1-13 (the two witnesses) |
| Revelation Chapters 17-19 (Babylon the great prostitute) anticipated in ==> | Chapter 14:8 (fallen Babylon) |
| Revelation Chapter 16 (the seven cups of wrath) anticipated in ==> | Chapter 14:10 (the cup of retribution) |
| Revelation Chapters 19:17-21 (defeat of the Beast) anticipated in ==> | Chapter 16:12-14 (Beast's forces preparing for war) |
| Revelation Chapters 21-22 (the New Jerusalem) anticipated in ==> | Chapter 19:7-9 (the reign of the Christ) |
14:6-13: The Three Angels, the Gospel, and the Cup of Judgment
6 Then I saw
another angel, flying high overhead, sent to announce the gospel of eternity to
all who live on the earth [those who dwell on the land], every nation, race,
language, and tribe. 7 He was
calling, "Fear God and glorify him, because the time has come for him to sit in
judgment; worship the maker of heaven and earth and sea and the springs of
water. 8 A second angel followed
him, calling, "Babylon has fallen, Babylon the Great has fallen, Babylon which
gave the whole world the wine of retribution to drink."* 9 A third angel followed, shouting aloud, "All
those who worship the beast and his statue, or have had themselves branded on
the hand or forehead, 10 will be
made to drink the wine of God's fury which is ready, undiluted, in his cup of
retribution; in, fire and brimstone they will be tortured in the presence of
the holy angels and the Lamb 11 and
the smoke of their torture rise forever and ever. 12 There will be no respite, night or day, for
those who worship the beast or its statue or accept branding with its name."
This is why there must be perseverance in the saints who keep the commandments
of God and faith in Jesus. 13 Then
I heard a voice from heaven say to me, "Write down: Blessed are those who die
in the Lord! Blessed indeed, the Spirit says, now they can rest forever after
their work since their good deeds go with them."
*Other translations read: because
of the wine of the anger of her fornication, she made all nations to drink (IBGE,
vol IV, page 683).
The rest of Chapter 14 (verses 6-20) divides into seven sections, with a vision of the glorified Christ (14:1) flanked on each side by three angels. These verses are the transition between the Trumpet-visions, which were the proclamations of judgment, and the Chalice-visions, which are the applications of God's judgment. Just before this transition, each of the first three angels will make a special proclamation concerning the Lamb's victory. The last three angels will perform special actions to assist Christ in implementing His conquest. Notice how these angelic proclamations and actions parallel the duties of the New Covenant Universal Church, especially those of the Church's hierarchy.
| 14:6, Angel #A-1 announces the Gospel of eternity to every nation, race, language, and tribe. |
| 14:8, Angel #A-2 announces, "Babylon has fallen," referring to apostate Jerusalem. |
| 14:9, Angel #A-3 announces judgment against those who follow the Beast and will drink the "wine of God's wrath" in eternal judgment |
| 14:14 CHRIST (the Son of Man as foreseen in Daniel 7:13 but with a sharp sickle in His hand) |
| 14:15, Angel #B-1 shouts to Christ that the harvest of the earth is ripe. |
| 14:17, Angel #B-2 comes out of the Temple in heaven and carries a sharp sickle in his hand. |
| 14:18 Angel #B-3 oversees the fire of God's altar, shouts to the angel with the sharp sickle to begin the harvest of the grapes of the earth. |
You may wonder why the chart lists the angels in two sets of three instead of numbering them one through six. It seemed inappropriate, considering the negative significance of the number 6 as a symbol that represents rebellion against God. Besides, with Christ as the centerpiece, it appears that John meant us to see these messengers as two sets of three. Three is the number of Trinity, as well as fullness or completion.(1)
Verse 6 is the tenth repeat of the phrase, "those who dwell on the land," referring to the Jews of apostate Judea (also see Rev 3:10; 6:10; 8:13; 11:10 [twice]; 13:8, 12, 14 [twice]; 17:2, and 8.
In verses 6-13, John receives three messages from three
angel messengers. Verse 6 is the second time John has seen an angel flying
high overhead.
Question: When in the Book of Revelation,
did he first see an angel flying in mid-heaven, and how is the message
different?
Answer: In Revelation 8:13, he saw the eagle-angel cherubim
flying above him and crying "disaster/woe to all those who dwell on the Land."
However, this time, the angel is announcing the Gospel, "good news," of Jesus Christ.
Question: What people receive this message from
angel #1, and what is the symbolic number associated with the classification of
these people?
Answer: Every 1) nation, 2) race, 3) language 4)
tribe will receive the Gospel message. The number 4 is symbolic of the entire
earth.
Question: Do you recall other passages in
Revelation where this formula for the peoples of the earth appears, and what is
the symbolism behind the number of times the phrase appears in Revelation? See
Rev 5:9; 7:9; 11:9; 13:7; 14:6 and the document "The Significance of Numbers in Scripture."
Answer: The phrase appears five times with
variation but always with the same four classifications. The number four
represents the earth, and five is the number of grace and power. The Gospel
message originated in Judea, but God intends it as a blessing for all humanity.
This passage is more evidence that this is not the Second
Coming of Christ and the Final Judgment because, at that event, there is no
longer any time for the spread of the Gospel message across the earth.
Question: Does the spread of the Gospel message
over the entire earth remind you of any New Testament passage? See
Mt 24:14 and 28:19-20.
Answer: There are several verses; for example, in
Matthew 24:14, Jesus said: "This good news [gospel] of the kingdom will be
proclaimed to the whole world as evidence to the nations. And then the end
will come." Also, in
Matthew 28:19-20 where Jesus said: "Go,
therefore, make disciples of all nations; baptize them in the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teach them to observe all the
commands I gave you."
St. Paul tells us that the Gospel of Jesus Christ was preached to the Roman dominated world before the end of Old Covenant worship in AD 70 in Romans 1:8; 10:18; Col 1:5-6, 23. Jews of the Old Covenant were living in provinces across the Roman Empire. God had an obligation to the "scattered sheep" of the Old Covenant that the Gospel be preached to them before He sat in judgment on the Jews of the Old Covenant who rejected the Messiah and before he withdrew Old Covenant worship (the Temple) to establish the New Covenant Universal Church as the New Israel.
8 A second angel
followed him, calling, Babylon has fallen, Babylon the Great has fallen,
Babylon which gave the whole world the wine of retribution to drink."
Verse 8 is the first mention of "Babylon" in Revelation
and the first direct prophetic reference to Babylon that will anticipate the
full exposition to come in Chapters 17-19. John will mention the destruction
of Babylon in Revelation passages seven times in
Rev 14:8 twice; 16:19; 17:5; 18:2, 10, 21.
There were symbolic references to Babylon in the Trumpet judgments of Chapter 9. Babylon, in the Old Testament, was a nation in opposition to God who seduced people into "fornication," a symbolic term for worshiping false gods. In Isaiah Chapter 21, Isaiah prophesizes Babylon's destruction before her rise as a world power. Revelation 14:8 is almost a direct quote from Isaiah 21:9 in the announcement of the lookout/watchman of the Lord: He shouted again and said, "Babylon has fallen, has fallen, and all the images of her gods he has shattered to the ground!" It was a prophecy concerning the city that would bring God's judgment on apostate Judah by destroying Jerusalem and Solomon's Temple and taking the survivors of Judah into captivity for seventy years. Later Babylon, like Sodom and Egypt, became the symbol for apostate Israel "whoring" after false gods.
Let's think in 1st century AD terms. The seven churches of Revelation, who understood Old Testament symbolism and who were already familiar with letters of St Peter, must have discerned his meaning immediately. In his first epistle, Peter described the local church from which he wrote as Your sister in Babylon, who is with you among the chosen, sends you greetings; so does my son, Mark (1 Peter 5:13). Many commentators, including The New Jerusalem scholars, interpret Peter's reference to Babylon as a code name for Rome where Peter resided, guiding the Church for twenty-five years. We know he established the Universal Church there and suffered martyrdom there. But in the early years of the Church, Peter lived and had his headquarters in Jerusalem (Acts 8:1; 12:3; Gal 1:18; 2:1-9) before he went to Antioch (for seven years) and later to Rome. He also traveled frequently back and forth from Rome to Jerusalem. He was in Jerusalem for the Great Council of AD 49/50 in Acts 15, and it was on a trip to Judea that the Roman nobleman Clement (the 4th Pope) was introduced to St. Peter by Joseph Barnabas and converted to Christianity (Recollections of Clement). And in 1 Peter 4:17, Peter wrote that the time had come for the judgment to begin at the household of God, referring to the center of the Church of the Sinai Covenant in Jerusalem.
The most persuasive evidence for "Babylon" as code for Jerusalem is the "unfaithful harlot (prostitute)" imagery in Revelation. Rome could not be an unfaithful harlot to God because pagan Rome never entered a covenant relationship with Yahweh. It is Israel who became the unfaithful wife, and the Old Testament is full of imagery of unfaithful Israel as Babylon, which we will see in Chapters 17 and 18. Also, John has only dealt with Rome insofar as Rome was related to Israel and his churches in Asia Minor as their pagan overlord. The main thrust of the book of Revelation has always been apostate Judea/Israel, so why should the focus change? Then too, we must come back to Revelation 11:8, which describes the Great City as the place where the Lord was crucified, which has to be Jerusalem. This same expression of "the Great City" appears in Rev 16:19. And finally, in Matthew 24:14, Jesus said that the end of Jerusalem would follow the preaching of the Gospel among the nations (of the Roman Empire), and this is the action that has just taken place in Revelation 14:6-7.
8b Babylon which
gave the whole world the wine of retribution to drink.
Other translations read: because of the wine of the
anger of her fornication, she made all nations to drink (IBGE, vol IV, page 683).
The cup or wine of God's wrath is a familiar Old Testament
symbol; see Isaiah 51:17 and Jeremiah 25:15; also see the Chart on the Symbolic
Images of the Old Testament Prophets.
The phrase indicates the fearful judgments and punishments which God will visit upon covenant breakers and evildoers (Rev 18:6 and Ps 75:9). The cup itself is probably the bowl-like chalice used to pour out the blood of the sacrifice on the altar in the Jerusalem Temple. Wine and the cup of God's wrath are part of the four prominent symbolic images of the Old Testament prophets (see How to Study the Old Testament Books of the Prophets in the Bible Study Section and the Chart on The Symbolic Imagery of the Prophets). In our Revelation passage, the cup of retribution or wrath is a reference to Isaiah 51:17 and another link to Jerusalem: Awake, awake! To your feet, Jerusalem! You who from Yahweh's hand have drunk the cup of his wrath. It is also another link to the Book of Ezekiel. Chapter 23 of Ezekiel is full of Egypt/Exodus imagery, connections to Babylon, and idolatry exposed in rather erotic fornication/adultery imagery. Following the allegorical history of Jerusalem and Samaria, is the vision of the first siege of Jerusalem by the Babylonians that the prophet received, as he tells us, in December/January 589/588 BC, several years before the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem (July 587/6 BC).
Read Ezekiel Chapter 23. The "sister" in the passage is Samaria, which was once the Northern Kingdom of Israel destroyed by the Assyrians in 722 BC. A key passage is 23:31-34, where Yahweh announces: "Since you have copied your sister's behavior, I shall put her cup in your hand." The Lord Yahweh says this: "You will drink your sister's cup, a cup both deep and wide, leading to laughter and mockery, so ample the draught it hold. You will be filled with drunkenness and sorrow. Cup of affliction and devastation, the cup of your sister Samaria, you will drink it, you will drain it; then you will break it in pieces and lacerate your own breasts. For I have spoken," declared the Lord Yahweh (bold added for emphasis).
Question: Drinking the cup was symbolic imagery
that prophesized an event in Salvation history. 1: What is the cup that Judah
will drink? 2: What was that event that took place not long after this
prophecy?
Answer: 1) The cup is a symbol of affliction and
devastation. 2) The Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and Solomon's Temple in 587/6
BC on the 9th of Ab.
Question: Is there a parallel between the prophecy
of this Ezekiel passage and an event in Salvation history that took place on
the 9th of Ab in AD 70?
Answer: Yes, the destruction of Jerusalem and the
Temple by the Romans on the same date as the destruction of Jerusalem and
Solomon's Temple in 587/6 BC.
Question: What is the parallel between the wine of
retribution/wrath in Revelation 14 and the cup of affliction and devastation in
Ezekiel?
Answer: They both foretell judgment and disaster.
Question: If Babylon is Jerusalem (Judea) in 14:8, is
there a contrast we should notice here between the "cup of wrath" and the cup offered
to the Jews by the Messiah?
Answer: Jesus the Messiah, offered them the gift of
the cup of Salvation in the Most Holy Eucharist.
9 A third angel
followed, shouting aloud, "All those who worship the beast and his statue, or
have had themselves branded on the hand or forehead, 10 will be made to drink the wine of God's fury
which is ready, undiluted, in his cup of retribution; in fire and brimstone
they will be tortured in the presence of the holy angels and the Lamb and the
smoke of their torture rise forever and ever."
These verses recall Revelation 13:15-18. The great sin of
the land beast, Judea's apostate religious leadership, was the promotion and
enforcement of the worship of the Roman sea beast (13:11-17). Jesus spoke
about His rejection by the Jewish leadership in the first prophecy of His
passion: He said, "The Son of man is destined to suffer grievously, to be
rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and to be put to death,
and to be raised up on the third day" (see Lk 9:22, Mt 16:21, and Mk 8:31).
To reject God is to choose Satan. The reference to fire and
brimstone recalls the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen 19:24-28). You
may remember the connection between Jerusalem and Sodom and Gomorrah in Revelation
Chapter 9 and the first Trumpet judgment.
The contents of this horrible cup may be associated with poison. One Hebrew equivalent for "poison" is the word hemah, also meaning heat or wrath. The Greek verb in verse 10 implies mixing the wine with elements that will make it more poisonous. The verse records that it is undiluted, which indicates that the punishment is in full measure. In the Old Testament, often records that God gives the "cup of inflammation" to nations whom He is about to destroy (Is 51:17; Lam 4:21; Jer 25:15-16; 49:12; 51:7; Ez 23:31-34; etc.) They become "drunk" on their own wickedness. The message is: those who drink of "Babylon's" heretical cup of state-worship also will drink the wine of the wrath of God, and they will drink it full strength! (Literally in the Greek "unmixed"). You cannot drink one cup (heresy) without the other (retribution)!
11 There
will be no respire night or day, for those who worship the beast or its statue
or accept branding with its name. 12 This
is why there must be perseverance in the saints who keep the commandments of
God and faith in Jesus. 13 Then I
heard a voice from heaven say to me, "Write down: Blessed are those who die in
the Lord! Blessed indeed, the Spirit says; now they can rest forever after
their work, since their good deeds go with them."
In Revelation 14:13, John hears another "voice from
Heaven" and the second of the seven beatitudes or blessings that occur in
Revelation, and here, for the first time, the faithful of God are called "blessed."
(See Lesson 1, handout 1 for a chart on the seven blessings in
Revelation 1:3; 14:13; 16:15; 19:9; 20:6; 22:7; & 22:14). John hears voices 33 times in
Revelation, but a voice (or voices) from heaven repeats seven times
(Rev 10:4, 8; 11:12, 15; 12:10; 14:2, 13).
The assurance is that the Church must persevere in faithfulness, and God will destroy the wicked persecutors of the Church. The first-century Church understood that their perseverance and faithfulness could result in suffering and death, and for their sakes, God calls out from Heaven with words of assurance that He commands John to write down. God says, "Blessed are those who die in the Lord!" because "now they can rest forever after their work, since their good deeds go with them." Because of the work of our Savior and Redeemer, the doors of Heaven are opened to God's covenant people.
In the Old Testament, the righteous had no hope of Heaven. No animal sacrifice was pure enough to remove the stain of original sin we inherited from our original parents or our intentional sins (Num 15:22-31). It was only through the sacrifice of the unblemished Lamb of God that the veil was torn between earth and Heaven and the way to Heaven opened (see Mt 3:13-17; Mk 19:11; Lk 3:21-22; CCC 536 and 1026). Jesus has unlocked Sheol/Hades, the Abode of the Dead and the limbus patrum, "Abraham's Bosom" of the Old Testament (Lk 16:22) and set free its inhabitants who accepted His Gospel of salvation (1 Pt 3:18-19 & 4:6 and the Apostles' Creed). God tells John to write down: Blessed are those who die in the Lord because we no longer need to fear death; death has no power over us because the resurrection Christ conquered the power of death over humanity! God also tells him to write: their good deeds go with them. In 1 Corinthians, St. Paul wrote: The Day which dawns in fire will make it clear and the fire itself will test the quality of each person's work. The one whose work stands up to it will be given his wages (1 Cor 3:13).
Revelation 14:14-20 ~ The Harvest and the Vintage of the Land
14 Now in my
vision, I saw a white cloud and, sitting on it, one like a son of man with a
gold crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. 15 Then another angel came out of the sanctuary
and shouted at the top of his voice to the one sitting on the cloud, "Ply your
sickle and reap: harvest time has come, and the harvest of the earth [land] is
ripe." 16 Then the one sitting on
the cloud set his sickle to work on the earth [land], and the harvest of the earth
[land] was reaped. 17 Another
angel, who also carried a sharp sickle, came out of the temple in heaven, 18 and the angel in charge of the fire left the
altar and shouted at the top of his voice to the one with the sharp sickle,
"Put your sickle in and harvest the bunches from the vine of the earth [land];
all its grapes are ripe." 19 So
the angel set his sickle to work on the earth [land] and harvested the whole
vintage of the earth [land]and put it into a huge winepress, the winepress of
God's anger, 20 outside the city,
where it was trodden until the blood that came out of the winepress was up to
the horses' bridles as far away as sixteen hundred furlongs. [...] IBGE,
vol. I, page 684.
14 Now in my
vision, I saw a white cloud and, sitting on it, one like a son of man with a
gold crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand.
John heard three angels proclaiming the sovereignty of
God, predicting the fall of Jerusalem (symbolically called Babylon), making
proclamations to the land of Israel/Judea (verses 6-13), and describing the
future torment of idolaters. Now three more angels appear, performing
symbolic actions over the land (verses 15-20). In the center between these two
groups of angels, John saw one who looked like a human being that we can
identify as Jesus Christ, the Son of Man (Jesus' favorite title for Himself).(2)
John saw Jesus as he and the disciples saw Him at His Ascension in Acts 1:9, as John saw him clothed with the Glory-Cloud as the messenger in Revelation 10:1, and as Daniel saw the Divine Messiah coming in the Glory-Cloud to stand before the throne of God in Daniel 7:13 ~ I was gazing into the visions of the night, when I saw, coming on the clouds of heaven, as it were a son of man. He came to the One most venerable and was led into his presence. On him was conferred rule, honor and kingship, and all peoples, nations, and languages became his servants. His rule is an everlasting rule which will never pass away. And his kingship will never come to an end.(3)
The message of encouragement to the Church is to let the beasts do their worst; they cannot win because Christ has ascended and has received everlasting dominion over all peoples and nations. His kingdom will last forever and will never be overthrown because it is the fulfillment of the promise of Daniel's 5th Kingdom (Dan 2:44).
Question: There are some
subtle differences between Daniel's 7:13-14 vision of Christ looking forward in
time from the 6th century BC to John's in the 1st century
AD. Can you discern the differences and what they mean? You should find three
points of difference, and what is the connection to Psalm 2:4-6?
Answer:
Question: How many times the word "sickle" appears
in this passage?
Answer: The word cycle appears seven times in
verses 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 twice, and 19.
The sickle, as an instrument of Divine Judgment, recalls Joel 4:13: Ply the sickle, for the harvest is ripe; come and tread, for the winepress is full; the vats are overflowing, so great is their wickedness! It also recalls John the Baptist's warning to the Old Covenant religious leadership in Matthew 3:7-10: But when he saw a number of Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, "Brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming retribution? [...]. Even now the axe is being laid to the root of the trees, so that any tree failing to produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown on the fire."
15 Then another
angel came out of the sanctuary and shouted at the top of his voice to the one sitting
on the cloud, "Ply your sickle and reap: harvest time has come and the harvest
of the earth is ripe." 16 Then the
one sitting on the cloud set his sickle to work on the earth and the harvest of
earth was reaped."
Question: In the second set of three angels, the
first angel repeats what the first angel of the earlier triad said in verse 7.
What does he repeat, and what does angel 1-B mean in contrast to the first
angel of the first triad?
Answer: He announces, "the time has come." Angel
1-A announced judgment, but angel #1-B announces blessings and the gathering of
the elect.
Jesus described the Kingdom of God as a great harvest in Mark 4:26-29, and He told His disciples: "look around you, look at the fields; already they are white, ready for harvest! Already the reaper is being paid his wages, already he is bringing in the grain for eternal life, so that the sower and reaper can rejoice together (Jn 4:35-36). It is a message that John hears repeated in Rev 14:4 and 13.
The first angel of the second triad calls out to Christ to put in His sickle and reap. Note that there is no mention of destruction in Christ's harvest in the Gospels that refer to the harvest of souls into Heaven. This verse should remind us of Jesus' statement in Matthew 9:37-38 when He said: "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few; therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest."
In Scripture, the image of the sickle connects to the Feast of Weeks, called the Feast Pentecost in the 1st century AD. It was the fourth Holy Day in the Old Covenant religious calendar and celebrated in commemoration for the giving of the Law at Mt. Sinai and the creation of the Old Covenant Church fifty days after the grain harvest during the Feast of Firstfruits (Lev 23:9-22, Dt 16:9). The Feast of Weeks/Pentecost was the same feast day when the Apostles and disciples gathered in the Upper Room fifty days after Jesus' Resurrection. As they were praying, the Holy Spirit was poured out in salvation and blessing (Acts 2) on the New Covenant Church.
17 Another
angel who also carried a sharp sickle, came out of the Temple in heaven, 18 and the angel in charge of the fire left the
altar and shouted at the top of his voice to the one with the sharp sickle, "Put
your sickle in and harvest the bunches from the vine of the earth; all its
grapes are ripe."
In these verses, we return to the theme of judgment. The
gathering of the New Covenant Church will mean the ex-communication of Old
Covenant Israel. St. Paul understood this and used the story of how the
recognition of Isaac as the "son of promise" required the casting out of
Ishmael in Genesis 21 as an allegory to explain the rejection of old Israel and
the recognition of the Church as the New Israel and the "heir of the promise"
in his letter to the Galatians. In the Greek Septuagint translation of the Old
Testament, the work ekballo is used in the casting out of Ishmael in
Genesis 21, a word used to mean "ex-communication" in the New Covenant Church.
Read St Paul's contrast of Ishmael and Isaac in Galatians 4:22-31 and the link Paul makes between Isaac as the "son of promise," and the New Covenant believes baptized in Christ as the "new Israel" and the "sons of promise" who have replaced the "elder sons" as the heirs of salvation. Old Covenant Israel, God's firstborn son, in rejecting the Messiah lost the place of honor as the reshith, "the firstborn;" instead, that title and honor passed to the "younger sons" (and daughters) of New Covenant Israel. New Covenant Christians have become the "adopted" heirs.
Question: From where does the #2 angel of the
second triad emerge, and what does he carry?
Answer: He comes from the Temple in Heaven,
carrying a sharp sickle.
Question: From where does the #3 angel come?
Answer: He comes from the altar
Question: What is the message of angel #3 to angel #2?
Answer: Angel #3 tells angel #2 to use the sickle
to work the harvest of the vine of the land.
The angel's harvest is one of destruction. He is not going to assist in the first harvest souls begun by Christ; therefore, this is not the harvest of the righteous at the end of time. John saw the heavenly altar in Revelation 6:9 and heard the souls of the martyrs crying out to God and asking how much longer before He passed sentence and takes vengeance for their deaths on "those who dwell on the land," a reference to the apostate Old Covenant Church.
At first, it may seem to be the same harvest, but John uses imagery that goes back to the beginning of this section of Revelation when Christ instructed his Saints to pray, not just for Israel's conversion but for Israel's destruction. Remember, in 6:9-11, we saw the Saints gathered around the golden altar of incense and offering up their prayers for justice and vengeance, "How Long O Lord," they cried out! Then, shortly after that scene, the angel took the golden censer of the Saint's prayers, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it onto the land (of Judea); this was the beginning of the Trumpets section.
Now at the close of the Trumpets section, John sees the same angel, the one who has the power over the fire (meaning the fire burning on God's altar), and he comes specifically from God's altar, where the Saints' prayers cry out to give judgment (this may be the archangel Uriel "fire of God"). He prays for a harvest, but this time it is a harvest of the wicked, the grapes of wrath that the prophet Joel spoke of in 3:13. Christ's harvest is of the righteous who now have access to the Kingdom of Heaven, but the Angel of the fire of God's altar is harvesting those called to judgment. It is the judgment harvest of the "wheat and the weeds" found in Jesus' parable of Matthew 13:24-30 and explained in 13:36-43: The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of falling and all who do evil, and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth. There will also be a final harvest in the Final Judgment when Christ returns to judge the nations of the world, but the judgment in Revelation 14 is on Old Covenant Israel for refusing their Messiah and choosing Ceasar over Jesus (Jn 19:15).
Question: Who are those called to judgment? What
does verse 18 refer to; what is the symbolism, and what does it mean?
See Is 5:1-7.
Answer: God's Vineyard is Israel. In the Isaiah
passage, Israel, the vineyard was expected to produce "fine grapes," to yield
good works. Instead, it yielded unfruitful "wild grapes." The climax of the
parable is verse 7: Now, the vineyard of Yahweh Sabaoth is the House of
Israel and the people of Judah the plant he cherished. He expected fair
judgment, but found injustice, uprightness, but found cries of distress.
Following the condemnation of Israel/Judah in Isaiah 5:7, there are seven curse judgments against the Old Covenant people (Is 5:8-10, 5:11-18, 5:18-19, 5:20-21, 5:22-25, and 10:1-4). In the Old Testament and the New, "the Vineyard" is symbolic imagery for Israel (see the study: How to Study the Books of the Old Testament Prophets and the chart on "Symbolic Imagery of the Old Testament Prophets" in the Chart section). The angel in Revelation 14:18 announces that Israel is ripe for judgment! In the Gospel of John, Jesus warned His disciples: "I am the true vine, and my father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that bears no fruit he cuts away" (Jn 15:1). It is the fulfillment of the warning the last Old Testament prophet of Yahweh, John the Baptizer, made to the religious leaders of the Old Covenant Church: But when he saw a number of Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism he said to them, "Brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming retribution? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance ... Even now the axe is being laid to the root of the trees, so that any tree failing to produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown on the fire" (Mt 3:7-8, 10).
Here is also another link to the prophet Ezekiel. See Ezekiel 15:1-8 and "The Parable of the Vine." The reference in Ezekiel 15:4 to the fire that burns off both ends refers to the destruction of the Northern Kingdom in 722 BC by Assyria and then the other end of the nation, the Southern Kingdom of Judah, by the Babylonians in 587/6BC, which left Jerusalem in the middle: the last to be destroyed by an all-consuming fire: So, the Lord Yahweh says this: "As the wood of the vine among the forest trees, which I have thrown on the fire for fuel, so shall I treat the inhabitants of Jerusalem. I shall set my face against them. They have escaped one fire, but fire will devour them yet. And you will know that I am Yahweh when I set my face against them. I shall reduce the country to a desert, because of their infidelity," declares the Lord Yahweh (Ez 15:6-8).
This fearful theme of judgment and destruction was repeated in AD 67-70 when the Roman legions of Vespasian invaded, and the Land ran with blood from the Galilee in the north to Judea in the south and from the infighting between the different Jewish factions. The Romans did not besiege Jerusalem until the majority of the Galilee, Samaria, and Judea, was subdued. The Romans repeated the strategy of the Babylonians, leaving Jerusalem until the last to be besieged and destroyed by fire. The symbolism is clear: Jerusalem is the vine harvested in blood and thrown on the fire of destruction!
Jesus prophesized this destruction in Matthew 23:13-39 and 24:15-22 when delivering the first part of His last homily from the Temple in Jerusalem when He cursed the Old Covenant authority in the seven woes or curses of Matthew 23:13-32. He warned the religious leaders in Matthew 23:33-36: "You serpents, brood of vipers, how can you escape being condemned to hell [Gehenna]? This is why, look, I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some you will slaughter and crucify, some you will scourge in your synagogues and hunt from town to town; and so you will draw down on yourselves the blood of every upright person that has been shed on earth, from the blood of Abel the holy to the blood of Zechariah son of Barachiah whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. In truth, I tell you, it will all recoil on this generation."
Forty years after Jesus' Ascension, Jerusalem fell to the Romans, who burned the city and destroyed the Temple. The Old Covenant came to an end because without the Temple, there could be no sacrifices offered for the atonement for sin and sanctification of the people. The perpetual [daily] sacrifice of the two Tamid lambs, one in a morning liturgical service and the second in the afternoon, ended. After AD 70, only one sacrifice remained: the perpetual sacrifice of Jesus of Nazareth and the cup of salvation He offered in the Eucharist, the New Covenant Todah, "Thanksgiving" communion sacrifice.
19 So the
angel set his sickle to work on the earth and harvested the whole vintage of
the earth and put it into a huge winepress, the winepress of God's anger, 20 outside the city, where it was trodden
until the blood that came out of the winepress was up to
the horses bridles as far away as sixteen hundred furlongs.
God's judgment fell on the Vineyard of Israel from AD
67-70. The land is pressed in the winepress of God's anger and will produce what
will "be poured" out in the seven chalice judgments in Chapter 16. The six
references to "the land" (or earth as it is translated in the New Jerusalem) in
verses 15-19, combined with the symbolic imagery of "the vine of the Land,"
emphasizes that this is a judgment on the land of Israel. As one commentator
wrote: "It does not seem possible to suppose that St. John could have intended
to apply these words to any other country than Israel, or to any other city
than Jerusalem. They echo the words of St. John the Baptist, which began the
whole Christian prophetic movement, Even now is the axe laid to the root of
the tree.' What is contingent in the Baptist is absolute in Revelation.
Israel is rejected" (Carrington, The Meaning of Revelation, page
257, quoting Mt 3:10 and Lk 3:9).
the blood that came out of the winepress was up to the horses bridles as far away as sixteen hundred furlongs. The literal translation is 1600 strada. The number 1600 is symbolic, which again emphasizes the land of Israel and is 4 squared (the land), times 10 squared (largeness or perfection of order). Interestingly, this measurement, translated into kilometers, is about the length of present-day Israel with the West Bank (what was Samaria in the 1st century and the Northern Kingdom in the 10-8th centuries BC) and the Galilee(4).
The verse represents the whole land of Israel as a winepress overflowing in blood. The blood up to the horse's bridles recalls the Red Sea's destruction of Pharaoh's horses (Ex 14:23, 28; 15:19). But notice that the bloodshed covers the land outside the city. There was a literal fulfillment of this in AD 67-69. In Josephus' account of the Jewish War, he writes the "Galilee was all over filled with fire and blood," when the Roman legions of Vespasian and Titus overran the country. Josephus wrote during this time, before the siege of Jerusalem, death, and devastation covered the entire land (Jewish Wars, Book iii). The Romans cut off the rest of the country from Jerusalem and then destroyed the holy city and the Temple of Yahweh, where Josephus writes 6,000 perished in the fire.
As mentioned previously, the fearful theme of judgment and destruction of the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judah was repeated from AD 66-70 in the Jewish Revolt against the Roman Empire when Judea ran with blood from the infighting between the Jews and the devastation of the Roman armies. Like the Assyrians and the Babylonians who came as harbingers of divine judgment centuries before them, the Romans did not besiege Jerusalem until the subduing of the majority of Judea, Samaria, and the Galilee. History was repeated as Jerusalem was left until the last to be destroyed by fire.
Question: In addition to those who perished in the
devastation the Romans inflicted from the Galilee in the north to the southern
limits of Judah, is there another Biblical link to the blood flowing outside
the city? See John 19:20 and Hebrews 13:11-1.
Answer: The location outside the city gates was
where the precious blood of Jesus of Nazareth flowed from the Cross so that
salvation might come to the world.
Jesus' crucifixion took place outside the city walls of Jerusalem. It was a practice of the Old Covenant sacrificial system for the bodies of the animals whose blood is taken into the sanctuary by the high priest for the rite of expiation are burnt outside the camp, and so Jesus too suffered outside the gate to sanctify the people with his own blood. Let us go to him, then, outside the camp and bear his humiliation (Heb 13:9-13). Outside the city was the place of judgment where the body parts and bones of sacrificed animals not eaten or burned on the altar were discarded, and it was the place of judgment where Christ's blood was shed by an Israel who had rejected Him: "Pilate then gave his verdict: their demand was to be granted. He released the man they asked for [Barabas], who had been imprisoned because of rioting and murder, and handed Jesus over to them to deal with as they pleased.".(Luke 23:24-25).
There are multiple layers of imagery here: The blood flowing outside the city was Christ's blood, sacrificed for the sins of the world, but it is also the blood of apostate Israel who is cast out and excommunicated from the heavenly Jerusalem and disinherited by the Father. At the end of Jesus' trial with Pontus Pilate, the Old Covenant people condemned themselves: And the people, every one of them, shouted back, "Let his blood be on us and on our children!" (Mt 27:25). Christ offered His blood for the sins of the world in AD 30, and in AD 70, the Vine of Israel is cut down and trampled in the Winepress. The destruction of Israel was the culmination of a process that had lasted forty years. As Biblical scholar, Philip Carrington so eloquently wrote: "It began outside the city when the One they despised and rejected trod the Winepress alone, and of the people there none was with Him. It was in that moment that Jerusalem fell."
The next chapter of Revelation will resume with the theme of the wrath of God as anticipated in Revelation 14:10 and will begin the Succession Arrangements section of the Covenant Treaty. Utter destruction is coming, but more fuel must be thrown on the fire! Chapter 15 brings the frightening climax of the Wrath of God!
Endnotes:
1. A list or set in Scripture may not be intended to be
one series but a broken or divided series. One might even come to think of
Creation in terms of two sets of three days each instead of six days followed
by the seventh holy day that is the Sabbath. Re-read Genesis Chapter 1 and
notice how God creates time, space, and life on the first three days and then
fills creation on the next three days with the sun, moon, and stars. The sun,
moon, and stars fill time, the birds of the air and the sea creatures fill
earth's space, and life (vegetation of the earth) filled with the beasts and
man.
2. Jesus called Himself "Son of Man" throughout His ministry (for example, Mt 8:20; 9:6; 11:19; 12:8, 40; 16:28; 17:12, 22; 20:18; 24:30; 26:64; Mk 2:10, 28; 8:31; 9:31; 10:33; 13:26; 14:62; Lk 5:24, 58; 6:5; 7:34; 9:26-27, 44; 18:31; Jn 1:51; 5:27; 6:62; 13:31).
3. The Glory Cloud was a manifestation of the Divine Presence of Yahweh (see CCC 697). In the Old Testament, when God makes his glory visible, it is in the form of a cloud (Ex 19:16; Judg 5:4; Ez 1:4). In the Exodus liberation, God made his presence visible in the form of the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night (Ex 13:21; 14:19; 16:10). The Glory Cloud also announced His divine presence when it filled the desert Tabernacle (Ex 40:36-37) and the Temple of Solomon (1 Kng 8:10). In the New Testament, the Glory Cloud is present during the Transfiguration event (Mt 17:5; Mk 9:9; Lk 9:34) and at Christ's Ascension (Acts 1:9).
4. The modern state of Israel, including the disputed territories of the West Bank (Samaria), and the Galilee is approximately 20,770 square kilometers. New Jersey, the fifth smallest state in the USA, is approximately 20,000 square kilometers.
Catechism references for this lesson (* indicates
Scripture is quoted or paraphrased in the citation):
Rev 14:1 (CCC 1138*, 2159),
14:4 (CCC 778*, 1618*),
14:14 (CCC 697)
Michal Hunt, Copyright © 2000, revised 2020 Agape Bible Study. Permissions All Rights Reserved.