For all of the flaws that are obvious of me as a preacher, I would hope that manipulation would not be one of them. That manipulation would never be a charge you could level at me. Now of course a bit of clarification of terms is in order. What I mean by manipulation is this. The attempts to control another person by the artful use of unfair or deceptive means. The attempt to control another person by the artful use of unfair or deceptive means, thus a husband may seek to manipulate his wife. A daughter may seek to manipulate her parents. A politician may seek to manipulate a constituency. An employer may seek to manipulate his staff. It is the attempt to control another person by the artful use of unfair or deceptive means. As much as I am consciously aware, I have never intended to use this sacred place as a means of manipulating you. I have however, with every God ordained resource at my disposal, attempted to persuade you. The fact is, beloved, this is my agenda on every single Sunday that I stand at this place, and I say so without shame and without apology. My burden as a preacher is not merely to dispense information so as to secure your intellectual understanding of the truth. My burden certainly includes this, but it's depressed for something far more. It's the cause you to feel the very power of the truth and thereby persuade you to yield your life to it. And especially as the case you see when the subject at hand is the gospel itself and the objective in view is your eternal well-being. I will not attempt to manipulate you, but I will seek to employ every God ordained resource at my disposal to persuade you. To compel you to embrace Jesus Christ as God's only Savior for you. Now, how do I go about doing this? Well, I may seek to persuade you to embrace the gospel by setting before you the infinite glories of God himself, his frightening holiness, his sovereign majesty, his inflexible justice, his immeasurable love, his expansive graciousness, his condescending mercy, his open arms of forgiveness to repent and sinner. If, however, you are not compelled to embrace the gospel by virtue of the infinite glories of God, then I would seek to persuade you by another mean. Perhaps, perhaps by the means of the incomparable beauties of God's son, Jesus Christ, his eternal deity, his sympathetic humanity, his compassionate kindness, his supernatural strength, his sinless perfection, his sacrificial death, his glorious resurrection. But what of these beauties of Jesus Christ still did not persuade you to embrace the gospel? What then? Well, perhaps I might be inclined to compel you to do so where I, to make you aware of the magnificent gifts that only accompany the gospel. Peace with God, the indwelling Holy Spirit, the removal of guilt, the freedom of forgiveness, the assurance of eternal life in heaven. God is your father, Christ is your brother, intimate companionship among the people of God. But let's suppose, after all of this, you still remained not persuaded. Not compelled to embrace the gospel, though I'd set before you the infinite glories of God and the incomparable beauties of Jesus Christ, even the magnificent gifts that attend the gospel. Where can I go from there? Is there any remaining basis for compelling you to the gospel? In my appeal to persuade you to become a Christian, what resource do I have left at my disposal? A resource far less winsome, a basis for persuasion that is both dark and terrifying. I will attempt to persuade you to embrace the gospel by appealing to the very real threat of eternal condemnation. The eternal condemnation that is the certain destiny of people who persist in their refusal of Jesus Christ. You say, but art such a thing as manipulation? No, no. Preaching about eternal judgment would be manipulation where hell affiction, where eternal condemnation and antiquated thought conceived in the religious imaginations of primitive peoples. But my dear friends, if hell is a reality than imploring people to receive Jesus Christ that they might escape such a place, maybe the most compassionate expression of persuasion I could ever engage in. In reflecting upon the ministry granted to him by Jesus Christ, the Apostle Peter says to Cornelius, he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as the judge of the living and the dead. Did you get this Cornelius? Jesus wanted us to tell you that he is the judge, every person will one day face. Interesting. Here is a message essential to the apostolic mandate. Judgment is coming and Jesus is the judge. What did Paul say to the philosophers on Mars Hill? While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to repent because he has fixed the day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed. And if this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead, there it is again, you see. Judgment is coming, Jesus is the judge. But Paul doesn't, doesn't, doesn't Paul realize that he's speaking to one believer? What did John the Baptist say to the Pharisees? You brute of vipers who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Isn't this manipulation? Are Peter, Paul, and John the Baptist nothing more than first right manipulators? The fact is friends, the person who spoke most frequently and most gruesomely about hell was none other than Jesus himself. Is he then the the manipulator par excellence, the master manipulator? The model manipulator? My dear friends fear of eternal judgment can be a sanctified tool of the Holy Spirit to move someone on the fence of indecision into full faith and allegiance to Jesus Christ. And why not? Because at the end of the day you see the gospel's concern is not about providing people with a fulfilled life, a healthy body, psychological wholeness, perfect families, and fat wallets at its essence, the gospel of Jesus Christ turns on the realities of heaven and hell. It is only in the context of eternal condemnation that the gospel means anything. It is the essential dark side of the gospel without which the gospel cannot be the gospel. And no other book in all of the Bible reminds us of this so emphatically as does the book of the Revelation. It challenges our latent tendencies toward relativism and seeks to replace them with what's real and what's true at times beloved by shocking us. Now do you remember our context? Drawing upon the graphic symbolism of this apocalyptic language chapters 12 and 13 serve to make clear that the people of God, the church, has become the peculiar target of the great red dragon Satan himself. He has been defeated in his attempt to destroy the child of the woman Jesus Christ and thus he has turned his attention to the woman herself. Moreover, he seeks to destroy God's people by the means of two malicious and evil beasts. Those who belong to the beasts and thus ultimately to the dragon himself will prove obvious bearing a mark as it were indicating that very thing. Because of it, they will avoid persecution, the beasts wrap. To the contrary, those who refuse such identification mark themselves out as the unique targets for persecution and even in some cases martyrdom. It's how chapter 13 ends. So what now about chapter 14? Does it begin to turn our attention to something altogether new? And the answer is no, it serves to answer to haunting questions that linger from the prior chapter. The first is this. What happens to the people who refuse to identify with the beast and are thus persecuted and killed? What happens to the people of God? And the answer to that question is found in chapter 14 verses one to five. These faithful Christians loyal to Jesus Christ through all manner of persecution, they inherit the promised bliss of heaven. Every one of them, all 144,000, the full complement of the people of God, they experience the reward of eternal life where they are filled with joy and happiness that expresses itself in overpowering worship. They fulfill what we see set forth in those seven letters in chapters two and three. They overcome and thus by their overcoming inherit the benefits of eternal life. But this brings us to a second question. What happens to the beast and those who serve him? This is what is now answered here in verses six through twenty. It is a passage friends that bears a sevenfold structure defined by seven distinct persons. In verses six through thirteen, we read of a triad of angels. Each of which makes a staggering pronouncement of judgment. Then in verses 15 through twenty, we read of another triad of angels who do not merely proclaim judgment, they execute it. Sitting then between these two triad of angels is a seventh person. The son of man himself, the one of whom we learned back in chapter five, has earned the right to serve as the ultimate judge of every man or woman who would ever live. Judgment is coming and Jesus is the judge. So in verses six through thirteen, this first triad, this first trio of angels proclaims judgment. And the first of these three in particular begins with a staggering proclamation and it is this. God's judgment has already begun. God's judgment has already begun verse six. Then I saw another angel flying in mid heaven. That is another angel in distinction from all the earlier mentioned angels. Flying here in mid heaven, the idea is at the zenith point directly above so that all can see with an eternal gospel to proclaim. Notice the ministry of this angel is proclamation. But to whom does he make this proclamation? The answer is unbelievers to those who live on the earth. Now, unless you've been with us, you're unaware of the fact that that's a phrase that is used throughout this book in a very stylized way to refer to people who have refused God's good news in Jesus Christ and thus to one degree or another have embraced the philosophies of this human society position against God, the earth dwellers, those who inhabit the earth. In other words, my friends, this proclamation made by this angel is not made to the church, it's not even made to other angels, it is made to people who are not Christians. Moreover, look at the universality of this proclamation to unbelievers. To every nation and tribe and language and people. He uses this forefold expression to emphasize that this proclamation goes out to all unbelievers everywhere. So what's the content of this proclamation that goes out to all unbelievers everywhere? Verse six tells us the eternal gospel. Eternal, you see, because it is rooted and grounded in the eternal character of God himself. Eternal, because obviously it announces the gift of eternal life. It is the good news of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Now, right here, John does not pause to develop this for us because he's done that very thing back in chapter five where he said that for us, this vision of the slaughtered lamb with whose blood was purchased people from every tribe, tongue, people group and nation. And so this gospel is for all unbelievers everywhere. But take note friends now of how this angel compels all unbelievers everywhere to respond to this gospel. Verse seven, he said in a loud voice, fear God and give him glory. Now, properly speaking, friends, this is no gentile invitation and it's something you must always remember that the gospel properly speaking is not an invitation. The gospel invitation as it were is a command. And therefore to refuse Christ is to disobey the gospel, the commands of God. Here now, the angel proclaims to forceful commands, fear God, fear God over against whom? Over against the beast. Don't let the beast be the object to whom you yield your fear and thus the submission of your life. Don't fear Caesar and Rome. Such a fear is profoundly misplaced. Submit yourself to the Lordship of God. Fear him. And secondly, give him glory. Make him the object of your ultimate allegiance and worship, not the beast, not Rome. You see what this is, beloved? Can your ear detect it? It's simply another way of saying in the more common nomenclature of both Old Testament and New, repent and believe. Only here expressed in a manner apropos to people steep in paganism, steep in idolatry, steeped in the worship of other gods and steeped in the worship of themselves, fear God, give him glory. Moreover, my friends, the emphasis in the original here is not merely that of command, but of a command that is to be acted upon immediately. Fear God, give him glory, do it now,
but so infatted. Why so strong this angel isn't particularly politically correct? Why no give him take? Why no dialogue? Why no interchange? Why so urgent and pushy for the hour of his judgment has come? We're not waiting for judgment to commence. It has already begun.
It's the dark side of the eternal gospel. God's last day's judgment is already in motion. It's already been inaugurated. It's already begun. And my friends, there are some of you here who I know, you track with this. You understand this. We can look at this from a different vantage point. We can come at it from a different perspective. You know that according to the Old Testament, to the New Testament scriptures, God's long-awaited promise of salvation has arrived in the coming of Jesus Christ by means of His death, burial, and resurrection. Is that not right? And so you say to people, turn away from your idols and trust exclusively in the finished work of Jesus Christ and you men and women, boys and girls, you can possess eternal life right now. It's yours for the having at this very moment, isn't this right? Absolutely, it's right. Salvation has been inaugurated. Now, is this to suggest, however, that we presently experience salvation in its fullest and final expression? No. God's last day's salvation has already begun and yet it is not yet consummated. And you see, so is this the case with God's last day's judgment, the dark side of the eternal gospel. Which friends should not be new to you if you've been here with us these many months as we've studied the revelation. What have we seen in the prior chapters? Seven seals followed by seven trumpets. All expressing what? The preliminary judgments of God that even now are being poured out in various forms on this world that defies the gospel. Judgment has already begun.
Wasn't that about chapter five? Slitting the seals? Enoggerating judgment. It's begun. It began with the ascension of Jesus to the right hand of the Father. It reminds me, friends, of the great antithesis that we see at the end of John chapter three. You remember that? After Jesus has encountered with Nicodemus, John then provides some thing of an inspired commentary. He says, whoever believes in the sun has eternal life right now already that right now is his present possession of person believing in Jesus Christ possesses eternal life. And then in like manner, John then writes of those who disobey the gospel of Jesus Christ who refuse the command of God. He says, the wrath of God abides on him. Not will abide already. Right now, the day of judgment has begun. It's hanging over our heads. And so says the first angel, forsake all of the cheap counterfeits. Pledge your allegiance to the one who was infinitely greater than the beast, than Rome, than Caesar, than all of it, and why God? Because he, not the beast, is the ultimate judge. And on what basis can he be the ultimate judge? On the basis that everything that is owes its existence to him, and worship him who made heaven and earth the sea and the springs of water. Can you say that about your gods? Can you say that about Rome and Caesar? Can you say that about yourselves? This is the proclamation of judgment by the first angel. And yet my friends, it's an announcement of the eternal gospel because it does include the opportunity to repent. You can hear it there. Fear God. Give him glory. This is what God's spiritual powers are doing through the means of the church during this age, making known the gospel to all people's everywhere. We enter into this very work, my friends. We send people to the ends of the earth bearing this message and why the urgency, why the immediacy, why this imperative kind of sense of do this and do it now? Because God's judgment has already begun. Now look at the proclamation of judgment on the part of the second angel. Here's the gist of it. The pagan culture has been overthrown. The pagan culture has been overthrown versus ain't. Then another angel, a second, followed saying fallen, fallen is battle on the grave. Now that's a quotation taken from Isaiah chapter 21. Battle on. That ancient evil empire located on the Euphrates river had devastated the people of Israel. Many of you know this story. By its power it had destroyed the city of Jerusalem, torn down its temple, killed thousands, and taken the remnant of God's people into captivity. But the prophet Isaiah inspired by the spirit of God for tells of the day when that empire notorious for its arrogance and its idolatries will itself be brought to ruin. Isaiah writes, fallen, fallen is battle on. And all the images of her gods lie shattered on the ground. In other words, you see the deliverance of God's people out of Babylon would be preceded by the devastation of that pagan culture that had enslaved them. And that's precisely what occurred at the hands of the meads and Persians. Babylon is destroyed and the people of Israel are set free. Well, now you see this angel picks up on this language, this imagery, this historical event. And like Isaiah, he too foretells of an event in the future that has been determined by God with such utter certainty. Notice he can speak of it as though it has already come to pass. Notice not Babylon will fall. Falling is Babylon. Fallen, it's done. Fallen is battle on the grave. Only dear friends, the interest of the angel here is not with the literal Babylon on the Euphrates, which by this time is nothing more than an insignificant blip on a map. Rather, you see the name Babylon became something of a symbol, a symbol of human society organized politically, religiously, and economically in opposition to and in defiance of God. Ancient Babylon with all of her idolatries became the archetype you see of this pagan culture, the pagan culture of this world that seeks to be set free from God. In the first century, of course, it was embodied most notably by Rome, but it's not one city in particular. You can supply Babylon here for San Francisco or Fairfield or London. It's every city in that it is a symbol of the community of the human race opposed to the things of God. And here, the angel proclaims as a fate of complete, a thing already done, the overthrow of this Babylon. The pagan culture has fallen as an expression of the judgment of God. This is a certainty. Why? Why such vengeance on Babylon? The angel tells us she has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. Now that is an incredibly clumsy sentence in English, but it doesn't have to be. Take a look at it. Take a look at it. Look at that word wrath. The Greek word there, Fumas means passion. And it can be used here as an adjective modifying the term fornication so that this can be translated. Babylon has made the nations drink the wine of her passionate fornication. But what does this mean? My dear friends, from one end of this book to the other, the concept of fornication is steadily used to speak of the idolatries, the seductions of this world order that serve to keep people away from the gospel. Which is why, if you recall, we read of a distinguishing characteristic of the 144,000 in heaven. Remember, back in verse 4, it is these who have not defiled themselves with women for they are virgins. In other words, they have not compromised their allegiance to the gospel. They have remained spiritually celibate. In direct antithesis to this revelation 17, Babylon is referred to as a whore. In fact, Revelation 17 calls Babylon the mother of whores. And John writes with the wine of whose fornication the inhabitants of the earth have become drunk. It's merely the same phrase we have right here. So what is all of this getting at? Something very practical, something very real that you and I always see every single day. And that is, the people of this world have been seduced by the intoxicating influences of this pagan culture. Beloved, we see it all around us. You see it on the television every single day. You read it on the front pages of your newspaper. You see it in time and newsweek. We are living in it right now. This is how you can explain all of the God-denying philosophies that permeate our world and our culture. Babylon, human society, in opposition to God, has beguiled all the nations of the world into fornication. That is the worship of anything or any one or any idea other than God. And because of this now, she is the target of divine punishment. In fact, is the angel here declares it as far as God sees it? It's as good as done already. The proclamation of the first angel, God's judgment has already begun. The proclamation of the second angel, the pagan culture has been overthrown. Now there is a third angel with the proclamation of judgment. And it is this. The followers of the beast will endure eternal wrath. Look at verse 9. Then another angel, a third, followed them crying out with a loud voice. Those who worship the beast and its image and receive a mark on their foreheads or on their hands, all of which was explained in the prior chapter, these metaphorical expressions that speak of allegiance to the beast, they will also drink the wine of God's wrath. Now friends, before I move ahead quickly to explain what this means, I want you to notice something that is easily missed. What makes this proclamation unique is that the prior one was more corporate in emphasis. Babylon has fallen. It's communal. It's societal. It's the destruction of a more corporate entity as it were the pagan culture. Here, now it's suddenly very individualistic. It's all very personal. It's no longer vague and nebulous and nearly theoretical. Now it's specific names and faces. Those who worship the beast and its image and receive a mark on their foreheads or on their hands, they will also drink the wine of God's wrath. Horde unmixed into the cup of his anger and they will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever. There is no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image and for anyone who receives the mark of its name. You remember the prior chapter, friends? Remember the end of chapter 13, you take the mark of the beast or you will face the beast's wrath. To not take the beast's mark would carry with it a very high cost. But it is nothing like this cost, the cost of taking the beast's mark. You read this and you can now begin to appreciate the words of Jesus a little more. Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body and health. That is what this is. Now the language the angel uses here is obviously metaphorical. We are not to think for example of a literal cup. It reminds me very much friends of Revelation chapter 4. How is it that their John describes the very throne room of God? He uses figures of speech and metaphors and analogies. Why? Because we do not possess the categories of understanding that are requisite for a literal description of heaven. They can't do it. Can't get us there. And you see it's the very same thing here now with regard to understanding what hell is. What the lake of fire is. The angel describes this eternal judgment in metaphorical language. Not to lessen its severity to heighten it. It's beyond all powers of literal description. Firstly he says they will also drink the wine of God's wrath, poured unmixed into the cup of his anger. It's very simple to understand. Wine in the ancient world was very frequently cut with water so that the full effects of the alcohol would be diluted.
So what is this angel getting at? All of the prior judgments of God have been like mixed wine diluted. Cut. Mitigated. Weakened. Softened. But this judgment it will be unmixed. Uncut. Undiluted. So that people will experience the wrath of God poured out in full strength all together untempered by the slidest expression of grace and mercy. And by the way, did you notice the little word there in verse 10 also? They will also drink the wine of God's wrath also presupposes something else. Why does he throw that word in there? Because this is not the only cup of wine mentioned in this context, is it? Remember verse 8? She has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication by including that little word also here. What he's saying is this, these two cups go together. You drink the wine of Babylon's idolatry. You'll be required to drink the wine of God's wrath. Unmixed. Full force. Look at the second image of eternal condemnation. And they will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. Where does that language come from, beloved? That's the language of Sodom and Gamora. You recognize it. This torment, notice he calls it torment, includes the experience of fire and brimstone that is sulfur which produces noxious fumes that make it nearly impossible to breathe. But there is something that sets this judgment apart from what occurred in Sodom and Gamora. Notice friends, this judgment is distinguished by the fact that it will never end.
This torment is eternal in scope and the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever. There is no rest day or night for those who identify with the beings.
Have you read the Gospels recently? Jesus himself speaks of eternal punishment. That hell is the place where the fire will never be quenched. Unending torment. And beyond that it reminds me of a story. Jesus himself taught in Luke 16, a story of two men, two men who die, a rich man and a man by the name of Lazarus.
What's the condition of the rich man in hell? Jesus says he was in torment. In fact the rich man himself says I'm an agony in these flames. Hell is conscious torment. People are not annihilated, they are aware. Conscious torment. Not only is hell unending, it's torment, but that's not all. Not only is the rich man conscious of his own condition, he is also aware of the heavenly bliss that's being experienced by his counterpart, Lazarus. Remember? He sees Lazarus in Abraham's bosom, paradise. It's a metaphor for heaven. And yet at the same time there is fixed between them a chasm that can never be bridged. When you see in part my friends, it's getting at what is said here by this angel regarding this eternal torment, namely that it will occur in the presence of the Holy Angels and the Lamb. That's a fascinating statement. Now to be sure we know from the rest of the Bible and the later parts of this chapter that it means in part that the Holy Angels and the Lamb will participate in the execution of this judgment. But my friends, it means more than that. It means that what will make this torment so utterly tormenting is that in hell there will be an eternal awareness of what has been missed in heaven. From time to time, you hear people say stupid things like that. I'll be glad to go to hell. All my friends will be there. There will be no friends in hell. Hell will be an endless cycle of sin and judgment. Sin and judgment. Sin and judgment. Sin and judgment. Sin and judgment. Sin and judgment. No friends in hell. No parties in hell. Undeluted wrath. Conscious torment unendingly. One expression of divine judgment followed by another and then another and then another and then another much like unceasing waves. Judgment upon judgment without end. All of it in the presence of the Holy Angels and the Lamb. Knowing aware of the fact
that there is this one I had so adamantly refused for the sake of my fear of the beat. Knowing aware conscious of what I've missed. And therefore eternally gnashing my teeth. No friends in hell. No parties in hell. Unending sin and judgment. Well my friends what do these three angelic proclamations mean for those of us who are Christians? It means quite simply that we must persevere in our allegiance to the gospel. We must not cave in to the enticements of the beast. Verse 12, here is a call for the endurance of the saints. You need to endure. And who are these saints? Notice he identifies them. Those who keep the commandments of God and hold fast to the faith of Jesus. Now look at that second phrase there because it helps to interpret the first. Those who hold fast to the faith of Jesus. It does not mean those who hold on to their faith in Jesus. Those such a thing of course is certainly essential. It means those who hold to the faith that has come from Jesus. The faith being a descriptive title in the New Testament for the Christian gospel. For example, Jude verse 3, Jude says, I was going to write you a letter concerning our common salvation. But obviously under the pressure of the Spirit of God, he says, I've decided to write to you this letter, urging you to contend for the faith that was once and for all delivered to the saints. In other words, the content of the Christian gospel that has its source in Jesus Christ. And what are you saying is this what this is what defines the saints. They hold fast to the content of the Christian gospel. The gospel that has come to us from Jesus Christ, otherwise known as the commandments of God, which is what the gospel is. God's command. True Christians hold to this over against those tempted to relinquish it for the sake of making peace with the beast, peace with the culture. We must not surrender our grasp on the gospel if we seek to avoid the judgment that has just been proclaimed. We must persevere in our faithfulness to the gospel under the very end. But notice for the motivation is not only negative, it's also positive. And I heard a voice from heaven saying, write this, blessed are the dead who from now on die in the Lord. What does this mean who die from now on? Well, believe it, all of this remember is in the context of the dragon seeking to destroy the church, chapters 12 and 13, during this age between the two comings of Jesus Christ. He's referring here to people who die as Christians. And he is saying, persevere in faithfulness because when you die, you will know blessing. And what's the blessing? Yes, says the spirit or another way of interpreting this, translating this is blessing indeed says the spirit. But what's the blessing? Notice, they will rest from their labors. Now friends, we do not have time to go down this road today. Another discussion for another day, a very important one on idea. This does not mean that heaven will be a place of eternal inactivity. Notice the context friends, this rest experienced by Christians at their death is said in direct contrast to the lack of rest experienced by non-Christians of their death. Remember verse 11? And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, there is no rest day or night for them. Unlike the lack of rest that will be the eternal experience of unbelievers that is unending, conscious, torment, Christians will be blessed. Blessed indeed says the spirit. And what is it that constitutes this blessing? The rest of eternal life, freedom from all travail and trial and torment that which is the lock, stock, and barrel of life for the Christian in this world. What did Jesus say? Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. But how can they be certain that they will inherit such a blessing? What is the ground of this blessing? Notice the next word. Four, here's the justification. The basis, the ground, yes, is the spirit. They will rest from their labors for because their deeds follow them. What deeds? Their faithfulness to the gospel. During their lifetimes, even when such a thing demanded the greatest of sacrifices, persecution, and death at the hands of the bees, they've overcome. And so they are granted all of the benefits and rewards of eternal life. Christians must not yield to the pressure of the pagan world. Why? Negatively to avoid this judgment positively to experience eternal rest. So three angels, three escalating proclamations of judgment that then John sees a person far greater than any angel. Verse 14, then I looked and there was a white cloud and seated on the cloud was one like the son of man with a golden crown on his head. You see the features that mark him out as exalted above the angels? For one thing, he's seated on a white cloud, a cloud often being referred to in the Old Testament as the chariot of God. For another thing, he's wearing a golden crown, a stefanos, a kind of crown that was earned by a great victory. We read about that victory in chapter five. And for yet another thing, he bears an exalted title, the son of man. And where does that come from, friends? Daniel chapter seven, where we see the son of man in his ascension. Approach the throne of the ancient of days, where this son of man is rewarded by God and invested with the authority of functioning as the universal and sovereign Lord. This is no angel, dear friends. We've seen three angels. We're about to see three angels. This is the Lord of the angels. Jesus Christ. In Acts chapter one, they watched him ascend into heaven. And how did he ascend into heaven? In a cloud. How is it that we can expect him to return to us? In a cloud, which is what this is right here, my friends. It's a view of the second coming. And for what reason will he return the second time? Notice, friends, notice the implement in his hand and a sharp sickle in his hand. The son of man will return to execute final judgment on his enemies. And here that judgment is now expressed in two mutually interpreting scenes of harvest. The first in verses 15 and 16 likened to a grain harvest, the second verses 17 through 20 likened to a great harvest, both of which are common old testament images for judgment. Now it's not judgment proclaimed, it's judgment executed. Watch the first in the second triad of angels, verse 15. Another angel came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to the one who sat on the cloud, use your sickle and reap for the hour to reap his come. Because the harvest of the earth is fully right. Do you hear that predestinarian tone? The hour to reap his come? This day has been scheduled. This moment has been on the calendar. It's an appointed hour that cannot be postponed. You say, but art is first seen so strange. Why is an angel telling Jesus what to do? Where does this angel come from? Another angel came out of the temple. Who dwells in the temple? God dwells in the temple. And what is an angel? An angel? An angeless? A messenger? A messenger from God. This angel simply brings a message to the Son of Man from God. It's a practical illustration of what Jesus himself taught concerning the day of final judgment, but about that day or hour no one knows. Neither the angels inhabit nor the sun, but only the Father. And so the angel brings this message from God to the Son of Man, verse 16 says, so the one who sat on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped. It's the imagery of a grain harvest, and with one great swipe the entire earth is reaped by the Son of Man. It stresses the fact of judgment. Now the second scene, this great harvest provides another way of looking at the same event, stressing, however, now not the fact of judgment, but the gruesomeness of it. Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven. Here's angel number five, and he too had a sharp sickle. Then another angel came out from the altar, the angel who has authority over fire. There's angel number six. He said to have come out from the altar, the angel who possesses authority over fire. Why is that mentioned here? You remember back in chapter 8? What did the angel place on the altar before God? The prayers of God's people. Prayers for what? Prayers for justice and vindication. And upon offering those prayers to God, what did the angel then do? He took the fire from that altar, and he hurled it to the earth, representing what? The following seven trumpet judgments. It was God's initial answer to the prayer requests of his people. And now you see this is the angel from the altar with the authority over the fire, and the action he is now about to take is God's final and ultimate answer to the requests of his people for judgment. He called with a loud voice to him who had a sharp sickle, use your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth for its grapes are ripe. In the ancient world, beloved people picked grapes, and then dumped them barrels of them into a kind of stone whine that, and at the bottom there would be little holes or channels through which the juice would flow, and the servant girls would, as it were, kick off their sandals and pull up the ends of their skirts, step into that that and begin squishing the grapes, and the juice would flow out of the channels and be caught in cisterns or basins of various kinds. Thus wine would be produced. Now, is that imagery clear in your mind? Hear them the word of the Lord. So the angel swung his sickle over the earth, and gathered the vintage of the earth, and he threw it into the great wine press of the wrath of God, and the wine press was trodden. Outside the city and blood flowed from the wine press as high as a horse's bridle for a distance of about 200 miles. Unfortunately, my translation, 200 miles, obscures the symbolism that's used here in the original text. Literally it reads, 1600 Stadia. 16 is a multiple of four, is it not? Four, as we've discovered, a very important apocalyptic symbol that stresses the whole of the earth, the four corners of the earth, the four winds of the earth, every tribe, tongue, people, nation, here, four squared, four times four, the whole of the earth, times ten times ten, a thousand, stressing absolute completeness. The idea is this blood, stretching for a distance of 1600 Stadia reflects the complete judgment of the whole earth, and the destruction of all the wicked. And where does all of this take place? Outside the city. And what will we discover when we get the chapters 21 and 22? The redeemed are the city. The new Jerusalem is the people of God, to be outside the city, is to be outside the community of the redeemed. And what will such people experience, face, beloved, the picture here is horrific. It's gruesome and violent. All of these people, real living human beings, will be gathered up by angels thrown into this wine press so that they might be stamped upon and trampled down until their blood oozes for 1600 Stadia at the height of a horse's bridle. Have you ever considered, beloved, how graphic the judgment of God has set before us in his word? I want to tell you something, if I invented this, you would think me course and mean and unkind and vulgar. Will you stoop art to any level of manipulation? But dear friends, this is what God himself says. In fact, do you know what will discover when we get to chapter 19? Who is the one who kicks off his sandals, pulls up the skirt, climbs into the wine press and travels underfoot the unbelievers? Jesus Christ himself, judgment is coming and Jesus is the judge. You got a problem talking about the reality of eternal judgment, then begin by addressing your criticisms to Jesus Christ or else hold your tongue. Why is this here? It's to push you off the edge of the fence of indecision. It's here because God wants to persuade you to embrace the only Savior who can deliver you from this. Beloved, these two things go together. You make light of hell and salvation becomes no big deal. You see eternal judgment in all of its horror and if you have any wits about you, you can't get your hands on the gift of salvation fast enough. You don't have to remain as slain to the beast because the eternal gospel is still being proclaimed. Final judgment has not yet occurred and so you escape the inevitability of this judgment that even in the telling is too awful to bear. Beloved, it is not manipulation. It's persuasion because it's the truth. What you bow your heads with the praise. Our Father, we believe that every nook and cranny in your word is given to us by your spirit for your own glory and for our good and I pray now, O Lord and God, for those of us who are Christians, that we would recognize the indispensability of perseverance to our experience of salvation. For all of our weaknesses and all of our feelings, we must not let go of the gospel. We must not yield to the beast and we are thankful for the promise that awaits us. Rest from all our labors, the beauty, the magnificence of eternal life with you.
And Father, this morning I pray for those who are here who are not Christians, children and adults,
boys and girls and men and women who have yet to yield their lives to this Lord and Savior that you have provided. I pray, O Lord and God, that it would be this very graphic image of condemnation that would drive them straight into the bosom of Jesus even at this very moment, that you by the power of your spirit would persuade them of their overwhelming need for Jesus Christ because if they don't find him as their Savior, they will meet him as their judge. O Lord and God, I pray that if you have indeed spoken profoundly to the hearts of those who are not Christians, that where they are even now, they will cry out to you for the gift of life that they would entrust themselves to Jesus Christ of the Savior. Thank you, Father, for being so honest with us. Thank you, O Lord, for shaking us out of our complacency for challenging our relativistic tendencies and setting before us what is real and true. Our Father, may your spirit persuade unbelievers this very day in Christ's name, amen.