Revelation 14:6-11 Visions & Angels / Greg L Bahnsen {Part 53 of 63 } Revelation Verse By Verse

All right, let's get underway. We're in Revelation, the 14th chapter this morning, and after the last two weeks saying that I'm going to finish up chapter 14, I'll make a diligent effort to get it done today. Now, we have already seen the main characters of the drama. In the second major prophecy of the book of Revelation. John begins in chapter 13 telling us that the red dragon was standing on the seashore of the Mediterranean Sea and that he beckoned to his side and into his service. The first beast, the Roman Empire from across the sea, and the second beast from the soil of Asia Minor itself, the emperor worship, enforced by the false prophets of that cult. In chapter 14, we've been seeing that John now sets out the army of the elect as they're going to fight against Satan and the two beasts and all those who follow the beast. He shows us the Lamb of God standing upon Mount Zion and 144,000 saints following him. All right. In chapter 14, at verse 6, through the end of the chapter, verse 20, we now receive a series of visions having to do with six angels and the Savior. Six angels and the Savior, of course, seven major figures then, or personages to be found here, as is John's custom throughout the book to use hept heads or a series of sevens. There are seven benedictions in the book. There are seven seals, there are seven bowls of wrath, there are seven trumpets of judgment. And so over and over again we have this use of seven. And it's not therefore uncommon for John to use a set of seven again here. However, this is a very special set. I wouldn't want you to think they're all on a parent, because one of them is the Savior himself. And when we get to that portion, I'll be dealing with it appropriately. Now, the vision here of these six angels and the Savior serves the same function as the seven seals did earlier in the book. Now, I don't want to get into review because I end up reviewing too long, but I think it's necessary here to remember that the prophecy of Revelation or the Book of Revelation is really comprised, when all is said and done, of two major prophecies in the section of the things to take place hereafter. The first prophecy is the prophecy of the scroll that has seven seals upon it. Now, before we find out what the contents of the scroll are, the seven seals must be broken as part of the drama. The outworking, if you will, John, finally building up to a climax. Jerusalem is going to be judged of God now as part of A preview of that. Each one of the seals is broken and we receive something of the content of that prophecy, something of the content of that scroll as each seal is broken. Or to summarize, the seals serve as a summary and preview of the contents of the scroll, just like a fly leaf does on a modern day book, for instance. Now, that function of being a preview of the contents of the major prophecy is to be served in the second major portion of the book, having to do with the little scroll, the biblion. That function is served here by the seven figures that we're going to be reading of this morning, the six angels and the Savior. Okay, so we're going to get a preview, not a chronological ordering necessarily, not even necessarily an outworking according to some scheme of topics, but simply flashes, if you will, of what you can expect in the prophecy to come. The next prophecy is to deal with the following types of events. And the preview is given in terms of three angelic messages, you'll note, and then two harvests of the earth. In the place of reading the entire passage, which we'll be going over word by word in just a minute, let me just summarize this for you. There are three angels that are flying in mid heaven, following each other. The first angel comes forth with the eternal gospel to proclaim to all those on the earth, saying that they must fear and glorify God, whose judgment is now come, they are to worship the Creator. The second angel flying in midheaven says, babylon the Great is fallen, who made all the nations to drink the wrath of her fornication. The third angel comes flying in mid heaven following these two, saying, any man who worships the beast and receives his mark shall drink the wine of God's pure wrath, being tormented in the presence of the Lamb and the angels with fire for heaven forever. And then John adds, this is the steadfastness of the saints, to acknowledge this. And then John is commanded to write, blessed are those who die in the Lord and who rest from their labors, okay? Having then three angelic messages from angels flying in midheaven. Then John sees this glorious vision of the Son of Man on a white cloud with a crown upon his head and a sickle in his hand. And then we have three more angels come forth. One from the temple of God comes forth, telling the Son of Man upon the cloud to harvest, telling him that the harvest of the earth is ripe, so reap it with your sickle, and he reaps the earth. Another angel from the heavenly temple comes forth, and he too, has a sharp sickle in his hand. And then finally, a third angel comes forth from the altar. The angel that has power over fire. John says, telling that angel that followed. We're going to get confused here. Right. Okay, here you have the son of man on the cloud, okay? An angel comes forth and declares to him, the harvest is ripe. Reap it. Then another angel comes forth with a sickle, ready to engage in a kind of vintage of the earth. And a final angel says to this penultimate angel, reap it. Or actually to gather in the earth's clusters of grapes, because they're fully ripe. And when that angel does so, he casts those grapes of the earth, those grapes of wrath, by the way, which is where that common phrase and the title of the book comes from. Cast those grapes of wrath into the winepress of God, God's great wrath. And it's trodden outside the city, so that the blood, not the wine, so. So that the blood from the grapes flows to the level of the horses, bridles up to 1600 stadia or furlongs. Very interesting series of visions. Now, let's look at them, each in particular, and read them as we go along. Okay? Revelation 14. Beginning at verse six, John says, and I saw another angel flying in mid heaven, having an eternal gospel to proclaim unto them that dwell on the earth, and unto every nation and tribe and tongue and people. John says, this is another angel, in contrast to all the other angels in the book. Or this is a further angel, that is, John says, and another angel comes forth. I've been seeing all these angels, you see in this vision, another one comes forth, and this one's flying in midheaven. Why in midheaven? So that he can be seen by everybody. So that he can be heard by everybody. And it's interesting that the Greek here says that his proclamation of the eternal gospel goes out over everyone. It's the only place in the New Testament where the gospel is preached over people. It's always two people or unto people, or something like that. But here, the gospel you see from this angel in midheaven, up in the. In the zenith of the sky, where everybody can see him and hear him, goes over the whole population of the earth. Notice that it goes over those who dwell on earth. Every nation, every tribe, every tongue and every people. No one is going to miss this message. It's going to be a universal message. Notice in verse seven. And he saith with a great voice. The reason he speaks with a loud voice is that all can hear him. And so by Any number of succession of images. John is stressing that this is universal. This is the eternal gospel that's to receive universal extent in its proclamation. Now, the angel's message, as I said, is called an eternal gospel, or another way of putting it, is that he proclaims eternal good tidings. Now, a very interesting thing happens if you start reading the premillennial commentators at this point. I don't have a long time for polemics this morning, but if you read in the recent commentary by Mounts in the NIT series, Nic sir, excuse me. He says this is not the gospel of God's redeeming grace. That's interesting. You know, how often have you seen the word gospel or good news in the New Testament and it didn't refer to the gospel, the good news of God's redeeming grace. That would certainly be unusual, especially the emphasis upon this as the eternal gospel. The gospel of God always intended for mankind. But Mount goes on, this is not the gospel of redeeming grace in Christ Jesus, but it is a summons to worship the Creator. We always start looking for people's presuppositions when they set things in contrast. This is not redeeming grace. This is creation. As though what? So the two are not part and parcel of the same message, but nevertheless they're set apart by Him. It says it's a final appeal to recognize the one true God. It is an eternal gospel in that it sets forth the eternal purpose of God for man. Never can figure out why that's supposed to be good news, the eternal purpose of God for man and pertains to the eternal judgment to come. That's why it's called the eternal gospel, because it has to do with eternal judgment. In fact, he goes on to say, quote, this is the language of natural theology. Those of you who've studied apologetics under me or read anything I've written will know how I might bristle a bit at that. This is the language of natural theology, calling men to worship the Creator. Natural theology is called the eternal good news of God. Well, I have a hard time with that. Why is Mounts forced into such extremes? Because on the premillennial interpretation of the Book of Revelation, this must be a vision of final judgment. It must pertain to the end. George Eldon Ladd says in his commentary that this gospel is in fact the announcement of the end, and it is itself good news, for it will see the end of God's redemptive purpose. Then Ladd adds, almost with embarrassment on his face, however, it's not such good news for those to whom it's being proclaimed, because they're going to be judged by God for all eternity. Well, I think the difficulty is that in the premillennial approach to the book, this message must pertain to the end. This must be a message of judgment and punishment for men. I don't believe it is. I think rather this is, as I said, a preview of the second major prophecy of the book, a preview of its contents. And one of the things we're going to find in that prophecy is the universal proclamation of the Gospel. That's precisely what you find in Revelation, chapter 19, by the way, where the Son of God on a white horse goes forth warring against all his enemies. But how does he war in chapter 19? With a sword from his mouth, which is the word of God. Right, the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, the preached gospel. And he's going to conquer the entire earth by this preaching of the gospel, at least on my interpretation of that chapter. So what I see here is the proclamation of the eternal gospel, just as any Christian, anybody who loves the Lord would understand that praise. In verse 7, the angel says with a great voice, fear God and give him glory, for the hour of his judgment is come and worship him that made the heaven and the earth and sea, and fountains of waters. You see, the angel calls men to fear God, to give him reverence and to give glory to him, give the due honor that belongs to him, because his judgment is at hand. It calls upon men on earth to worship the Creator over all, that is the Creator who made everything. This is a common formula, by the way, in the Bible, especially in the Psalms, in the book of Revelation, the heaven, the earth and the waters. That means everything, covers all categories, metaphorically. Now, it's interesting that Paul's gospel, and now I mean gospel in the usual sense of good news, the good news of what God has done for men, redeeming them because of their rebellion against the Creator. Paul's gospel, in the usual sense, called upon men to follow the Creator of all things. Look in Acts 14:15 for a phrase that's very similar to what we've seen in Revelation already. I don't think anybody will deny that when Paul went to Lystra, he was preaching the redeeming gospel of Jesus Christ. And yet at Lystra, this was Paul's message and saying, sirs, why do you do these things? We also are men of like passions with you and bring you good tidings, bring you the gospel that Ye should turn from these vain things unto a living God, who notice, made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and all that in them is. That's not natural theology. That's just the proclamation of the Gospel. To understand the good News, one must first understand the Creator. All right, God made all things, we owe him all things. And therefore our rebellion is culpable. And God has done something about that rebellion. Paul begins with that message. That is a gospel message. Moreover, if you look in the Book of Romans, chapter one, which again, nobody will deny, is the gospel of God's redeeming love for men. The very first verse says Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the Gospel of God. Okay, so here's the gospel. The book of Romans is the gospel of God. And this gospel is the one spoken of in the prophets, verse 2 unto the gospel of God which he promised before through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures. Moreover, this gospel is one that is for all the nations, even as we see in the Book of Revelation. Look at verse five. Through whom we receive grace and apostleship, unto obedience of faith among all the nations for his name's sake. Moreover, this gospel deals with the salvation of men, to be sure, verse 16. For I'm not ashamed of the Gospel. For it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. So there can be no question but that there is a parallel here between the Gospel of Paul and the gospel in the Book of Revelation. It's an eternal gospel, the one given always through the prophets. It's the gospel of God's redeeming love. And yet, having introduced his gospel in these words, what does Paul immediately begin talking about in verse 18? Creation and judgment. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hinder the truth and unrighteousness, because that which is known of God is manifest in them, for God manifested it unto them. For the invisible things of him, since the creation of the world are from the creation of the world, perhaps is a better translation. The invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen being perceived through the things which are made, even his everlasting power and divinity, that they may be without excuse. There's no contrast between the gospel of redeeming love in Paul and the gospel that the angel is proclaiming in the Book of Revelation. Notice also that Peter speaks of the Gospel in these terms as the eternal gospel. First Peter 1, 25, notice how Paul had said in Romans 1 that this gospel is that which was proclaimed through the prophets. All right. Peter says in chapter one of his book, I want to point out, I think it's verse. Okay, verse 10, concerning which salvation the prophet sought and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you. And he goes on to discuss this further and to elaborate on it. Then he comes down and says in verse 23, having been born again, not a corruptible seed, but of incorruptible through the word of God. And then he quotes from Isaiah, for all flesh is as grass, and all the glory thereof as the flower of the grass. The grass withers and the flower falls. And then verse 25 puts it all together. But the word of the Lord abides forever. And this is the word of gospel which was preached unto you. This word of the Lord that abides forever. There's the eternal gospel. Okay, so let's turn back to revelation, then chapter 14. It may be a popular sentiment, but I just can't follow it. What the angel proclaims here is not natural theology, not a message of judgment eternally, not something which is bad news for bad men. It is rather good news. And it begins with a message about the Creator. I saw another angel flying in midheaven, having eternal good tidings to proclaim unto them that dwell on the earth. And to every nation, tribe, tongue and people, he said with a great voice, fear God, give him glory, for the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him that made the heaven and the earth, the sea and the fountains of waters. And now a second angel appears, following afterwards. The first angel appears, you see, in mid heaven. He appears at the zenith of the sky. And now a second angel takes his place. And another, a second angel followed, saying, fallen, fallen is Babylon the Great that hath made all the nations to drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. That's a dramatic scene. Here's an angel I want you to imagine, you see, you're standing outside after church, and some angel appears up where the sun usually is that noonday. And then angel says, fallen, fallen is Jackson the Great, right? But it's not just know this, this dramatic way of speaking, but it's that this Babylon the Great has made all the nations to drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. What does it all mean? Well, the introduction of a symbolic reference to Babylon the Great without any explanation certainly assumes a knowledge on the reader's part. The referent, right I mean, John doesn't even bother to go and say, and Babylon is this, that and the other. He just expects his readers to understand that. Why? Because his readers knew the Old Testament. They knew that Babylon the Great was the symbol, the arch enemy of the people of God. And who is the arch enemy of God's people in John's own day? It's Rome. John does not want his letter to be intercepted and Christians to suffer further because of an explicit identification of God's enemy. He says rather, Babylon the Great. And it's kind of you can only see John winking, right? Because you know who I'm talking about. Look at first Peter 5:13, Virtually all commentators are agreed that Peter wrote this in Rome, from Rome at the time of his imprisonment, when he knew the fiery trial was on the horizon, the persecution that Nero was going to break loose upon all the Christian church. And in verse 13 at the end of this letter from Rome, he says, she that is in Babylon elect together with you, saluteth you and so doth Mark, my son. Peter says, the church that is here salutes you and identifies the church as being where? In Babylon. He says, we are imprisoned here in Babylon, the traditional enemy of God's people in Rome. Alright, in Revelation 14, the angel says, fallen, fallen is Babylon the Great. That language of Babylon the great comes from Daniel 4:30. Let's turn back to Daniel 4:30. And we read the king spake and said, is not this great Babylon which I have built for the royal dwelling place by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty? John knows very well the Old Testament setting. And so he doesn't just simply say Babylon as Peter does. He reminds you of that phrase from Daniel 4, Babylon the Great. Great in the eyes of God, no, great in the eyes of the Babylonians. Here's Nebuchadnezzar saying, isn't this a wonderful place? Look what I have made. It's just super Babylon, the great self importance, you see. And John saying, Rome thinks that it is important too. But what does God say? God says what Isaiah says in Isaiah's prophecy. Chapter 21, verse 9, speaking literally now of Babylon on the Euphrates River. Isaiah talked about the traditional enemy of God's people in Isaiah chapter 21 at verse 9. Notice these interesting words. And behold, here cometh a troop of men, horsemen in pairs. And he answered and said, fallen, fallen is Babylon. And all the graven images of her gods are broken unto the ground. John is quoting verbatim the prophecy of Isaiah against Babylon, saying, fallen Fallen is Babylon the Great. He combines them, the words of Isaiah and the words of Daniel. John knows his Old Testament very well, certainly knows it better than most of us today, I'm sure, because he also combines with this now a description of Babylon the great when he says, babylon the Great that hath made all the nations to drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. Look at Jeremiah 51, verse 7. Babylon hath been a golden cup in Jehovah's hand that made all the earth drunken. The nations have drunk of her wine, therefore the nations are mad. And so you see how he does, how he's then combining words from Daniel and words from Isaiah and words from Jeremiah to bring the full weight, you see, of God's judgmental wrath in the Old Testament against Rome. Now he says, babylon the great. Fallen. Fallen is Babylon the Great, this one who made the nations drunk with her wine. Remember how I told you last week that in this chapter we find an interesting mixing of images by John? He does it on purpose, I believe. It's not because he's an ecstatic state and can't think correctly or clearly. John does it to emphasize something. So he speaks of virgins. He speaks of the church as the virgin bride of Christ that has not defiled itself with women. And so now, wait a minute. That's a change of metaphor. That's a change of, if nothing else, the sexual function. John's not talking about that. What he's saying is, in this case, the idolatry, similar to Old Testament idolatry and harlotry, is to take place with a woman, Babylon the Great, the harlot, mother of all the nations. And so John purposely mixes the image to get his point across. He does it here, too. Ever stop to think about that? Babylon the Great has made all the nations to drink of what? The wine of the wrath of her fornication. You don't usually think of context of fornication as being context of wrath, although I know in some, you know, sadistic or literature or something like that, you might have a combination of that. But John doesn't have that sort of thing in mind. Why is it that he has wrath and fornication, wrath and sexual unchastity brought together? He's mixing the image. What he's saying is those who drink the wine of Rome's fornication. Look at 17:2, chapter 17:2, and with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, they that dwell in the earth were made drunken with the wine of her fornication. That's what John's thinking of the wine of her fornication. But what he's also saying is those who drink the wine of her fornication will simultaneously drink the wine of God's wrath. That's what he speaks of in chapter 14, verse 10. Right. He also shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God which is prepared unmixed. And so John purposely combines the images. Yes, it's like Proverbs, chapter 4:17 speaks about verses. For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence. They're talking about the. Instead of the righteous, he's talking about his son staying away from wicked ways. Proverbs 4:17. Yeah, I'm noting that in my note sheet here. That's. I never thought of that. That's good. Okay, verses nine through 11 now. And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a great voice, if any man worships the beast in his image and receives a mark on his forehead or upon his hand, he also shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is prepared unmixed in the cup of his anger. And he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goeth up for ever and ever. And they have no rest day and night. They that worship the beast in his image, and whoso receiveth the mark of his name. One of the most terrible paragraphs in all Scripture. There's another angel again, where the sun should be at the zenith of the sky. And this angel says with a great voice, actually, what this angel is giving is a counter proclamation to the words of the image of the beast in chapter 13. Remember, the image of the beast said, those who don't worship the beast will have what happened to them. They'll be executed. And if not executed, they will not be able to enter into the marketplace, as they have not the mark of the beast. There is this proclamation, judgment and persecution against all those who will not worship the beast. God says, I have a proclamation too. My proclamation over all the earth from this angel is, those who do worship the beast shall be judged for all eternity with fire and brimstone in the presence of the angels. And the smoke of that tormental judgment will rise up forever and ever. And there'll be no mitigation and no acquittal and no way to put it to an end. You know that phrase that sometimes is used colloquial expression even today? Choose your poison. I think it's very appropriate here. One must choose his poison, must either choose to be persecuted by the beast or to be punished eternally by God. Punishment is threatened by the beast for those who do not worship and obey him. But a much worse fate, John is saying, awaits those who do worship the beast, namely God's wrath and his eternal torment. That's why in verse 12, he says, Here is the steadfastness of the saints, those who have been threatened by the beast. They are steadfast. Realizing that a far greater punishment awaits those who submit to the beast. These are those who keep the faith of Jesus and the commandments of God. Verse 10. Speaking of those who will be judged, John now emphasizes the character of God's wrath. He also shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is I'm going to give you the literal Greek mingled unmixed in the cup of his anger. The worshipers of the beast, you see, shall also drink of God's wrath, not just of the fornication of Babylon, but of the wrath of God in addition to Babylon's fornication and her wine. And God shall give a draught of wine to be drunk as well. Now, in the Old Testament, God's wrath is often pictured as a drink of wine. You can see that in Job 21:20, or in Psalm 78, excuse me, 75, 8, or in Isaiah 51:7. And I want to look in this one now, in particular, Jeremiah 25, 1538. Time won't allow us to look at all these references, but you might jot them down so that you know that in the Old Testament this was a common metaphor. God's wrath is a drink of wine. Now, in Jeremiah 25, verses 15 to 38, that image is elaborated. And I want to look just at verses 16 and 27 to point out the parallels with the Book of Revelation. And they shall drink and reel to and fro, and be mad because of the sword that I will send among them. All right, the nations will drink of this cup of the Lord, and they're going to be stumbling around in their drunkenness. Verse 27. And thou shalt say unto them, thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, drink ye and be drunken, and spit out, and fall and rise no more because of the sword which I shall send among you. God says, go ahead, get so drunk that you vomit fall all over the place. Drink it up really good, because I'm going to judge you to the uttermost. It's a terrible image, frightening in its implications. And that's what John is using here in Revelation 14:10. Notice that he doesn't simply use this terrifying image of God saying, just, just drink it up, lap it up, because it's my wrath and you deserve every bit of it. Not just that terrible image, but John goes on to say that this wine of God's wrath is mingled unmixed in the cup of his anger. So you have this wine, which is wrath, and a cup that God's going to make a potion out of, and that's a cup of anger. So the wrath of God goes into the cup of his anger and he mixes it unmixed. Well, you have to understand the wine customs of the ancient world to, to follow that very quickly. To say that wine was mixed was to say that it was properly prepared and made very potent. Mixed wine was properly prepared wine. In fact, in the Psalms, you notice that mixed wine is spoken of where spices are usually intended to increase the flavor of the wine, and there apparently poisonous spices are being used. But nevertheless, it was the custom to mix wine to strengthen its potency. It was also the custom from time to time to dilute wine that was called to mix wine. All right, so if you mix wine, what I'm saying, I better give you two different English words. We're going to get really confused. To mingle the wine. It's another way of translating that is to add potency to it. However, to have unmixed wine means that you don't add any water to it, you don't dilute it. And so what John is saying here is God will give the drink of his wrath, the wine of his wrath. He's going to mix it, he's going to mingle it in the cup of his anger. But it's going to be unmixed, it's going to be undiluted. That is just going to be the strongest, most potent wine that the nations have ever drunk. It's going to be the wrath of God's anger that they drink. It's amazing. God's hot anger against those who rebel against him, who are against His Son and against his word is red hot, white hot indignation. Don't ever think that the judgment of God can be consigned to some kind of impersonal laws of the universe. You know, kind of like karma. If you don't follow, you know, the right procedures, you don't do the right things and treat people right, then you see eventually retribution comes in at some naturalistic sense. God is very personally concerned for every detail of our lives every word that we speak. And when God judges, it's going to be hot indignation. In 1 Corinthians 11:26. It's interesting how Paul speaks of the cup of the Lord's table, 1 Corinthians 11:26. He says, for as often as ye eat this bread and drink the cup, ye proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. Proclaim the Lord's death. You see, as we drink that wine of the communion table, we are recalling and proclaiming to the world that God's hot indignation and wrath was poured out upon his son. His son died. That we might live and enjoy this communal meal together. And so if you want to combine these thoughts, I suppose what we can say is that one can choose to drink the cup of the Lord, indicating that God's wrath fell upon the Savior, or God will make men to drink of the cup of his wrath. Now John goes to another image for the judgment of those who follow the beast. Not only will they drink this wine, but he says, they shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And. And the smoke of their torment goeth up for ever and ever, and they have no rest day and night. They that worship the beast in his image. And whoso receiveth, excuse me, the mark of his name, torment, is likened to fire and brimstone. An allusion to what, Sodom and Gomorrah? Exactly. And those who follow the beast will be like those who followed Sodom and Gomorrah. Actually, in Genesis 19, verse 28, where Sodom and Gomorrah are destroyed with fire and brimstone. And in Second Peter, where there's a reference to this, the language is that God leveled the cities of the plain to ash with fire and brimstone. In that image of fire and brimstone is repeatedly used of hellfire by John in Revelation 19:20, Revelation 20:10, Revelation 21:8. It's a common image. The suffering, he says, is in the presence of the heavenly host, the Lamb and his angels. Look at Luke 12:9. But he that denieth me in the presence of men shall be denied in the presence of the angels of God. Suffering will be in the presence of the heavenly host. And of course, that makes the punishment all the more grievous because it's in contrast to the bliss of the saints. Remember Jesus telling the parable of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke the 16th chapter, how that the rich man had everything he needed and fared sumptuously on earth. But Lazarus made he had to have the dogs lick his wounds and he hoped just have crumbs from the Master's table. And yet they both died on the same day. Jesus, you see, has the sense of the irony of God's judgment. They both died on the same day. And lo and behold, Lazarus, you see, was in the bosom of Abraham and in comfort and eternal bliss. And the rich man went to Hades where he was suffering eternal torment and fire. And he was thirsty and he just begged that Father Abraham would allow Lazarus to dip his finger in that cup of cold water that he had and but give him a drop upon his tongue. That's a beautiful literary contrast. Now, John's using that. He says, and the suffering of those who follow the beast will be in the presence of the Lamb of God and the angels. Those who could have previously given them rescue will now be those who watch them suffer. You see, Christians are going to bear public shame and derision and suffering in the presence of the world. Christ says, and those who persecute them shall undergo derision and judgment and torment in my presence. This is a chilling paragraph. I mean, it's like line upon line, making all the more, you see the judgment of God weigh in upon our conscience for its terrifying aspects. And verse 11 says, this is eternal torment of all things. The smoke of their torment as they are burning from fire and brimstone goes up forever and ever. There can be no hope of acquittal. Now, of course, such a teaching is offensive to modern man and to a humanistic outlook, isn't it? Even those who write commentaries in the book of Revelation, from a more liberal or humanistic standpoint go on to say of this that it's sub Christian. It's really contrary to the teaching of Jesus. In fact, one commentator is so, I think, absurd as to say that really this is merely a symbol for the consequences of turning from God. He doesn't mean eternal consequences. He means that those who don't follow God in this life are not very happy. And it's eternal in the sense that God never violates man's personality. He'll never force him to follow him. Can you imagine a more gross and euphemistic reconstruction of what John is saying? No. This is not just a symbol of man's personality not following the highest good. This is a symbol of eternal wrath that God will personally mete out against those who reject his Son and follow the beast. Interestingly, this abrasive truth of eternal torment is taught more by Jesus than anybody else in the New Testament. You might want to look at passages like Mark 9:44 where he speaks of the unquenchable fire, or Luke 16 as we just spoke of the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. So let's put aside all the euphemistic redefinitions and let's also put aside our being accustomed to that kind of language in evangelical churches and look at how terrifying God's judgment is so that it might have its appropriate sobering effects upon us today. Now I want to spend just a few minutes on this phrase that I have found. No comment. Well, I wouldn't say no, but virtually no commentator says anything about and yet it's highly significant. The smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest day and night. The damned have no rest day and night. It is important that you see from the Old Testament up through the New this proclamation of rest for the redeemed, and no rest for those who are judged is found. Remember, Israel in Egypt had no rest for making bricks out of straw. Without straw it was so hard that Israel labored day and night under those severe taskmasters. No rest for Israel until what? Until God redeemed Israel and brought her out, exodused her out of Egypt in the book of Ecclesiastes I have to go quickly this morning for obvious reasons. In the book of Ecclesiastes, chapter 2, we find Solomon discoursing upon the curse of man in sin that he has no rest. Ecclesiastes 2 Let me just jump around a bit. Verse 11 Solomon says, Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labor that I had labored to do. And behold, all was vanity of striving after wind, and there was no profit under the sun. Verse 17 so I hated life, because the work that is wrought under the sun was grievous unto me. For all is vanity and a striving after wind. Verses 18 to 23 and I hated all my labor wherein I laboured under the sun, seeing that I must leave it unto the man that shall be after me, and who knoweth whether he will be a wise man or a fool, yet will he have rule over all my labor wherein I have labored, and wherein I have shown myself wise under the sun. This also is vanity. Therefore I turned about to cause my heart to despair concerning all the labor wherein I had labored under the sun. For there is a man whose labor is with wisdom and with knowledge, and with skillfulness. Yet to a Man that hath not laboured therein shall he leave it for his portion. This also is vanity and a great evil. For what hath a man of all his labor, and of the striving of his heart, wherein he laboreth under the sun? For all his days are but sorrows, and his travail is grief, yea, even in the night his heart taketh no rest. This is also vanity. Solomon, you see, is droning on and on and on about how terrible it to work under the curse of sin, where nothing gets accomplished, where nothing has any meaning and direction. It's just toil and toil, and yet nothing comes of it. And then after that he says, there is no rest. Indeed, Isaiah will say in his prophecy that there is no peace for the wicked. Isaiah 48:22 as he says, there is no peace, saith Jehovah to the wicked. Isaiah 57, verse 21, verse 20 says, but the wicked are like the troubled sea, for it cannot rest in its waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God to the wicked. So you see how throughout the Bible the lack of peace, the lack of rest for the wicked. Remember the rich fool in the parable who said he had made all this money and he gathered his wheat into his barns and he had built greater barns and he had filled them. And. And so I'll tell you, Jesus really was a great teacher. And he gives the impression of this man has finished his final day's work. You know, he finally got the last barn filled and the doors are shut and locked. He's ready to go in for the night and throw up his feet and watch TV and rest. He says, now I'll take my ease. And what happens just when the wicked wants to take his ease? God says, no, this night your soul is required of you, and you want to scream out, no. After all that work, after I got it all finished and I was just about ready to start enjoying it for the rest of my life, Jesus says, no, there is no rest for the wicked. It's a very important theme throughout the preaching of God's word from Old to New Testament. But what does God promise to the redeemed in contrast to all this lack of rest that the wicked world knows? In Psalm 127:2, the Psalmist gives this very sweet word from the Lord. He says, it is vain for you to rise up early, to take rest late, to eat the bread of toil, for so he giveth unto his beloved sleep. It's vain, as Solomon says, it's vain for the wicked world to try to lay up for itself all its toil, toil and labor, and then rest. Only the Lord can give his beloved sleep. Only the Lord can give true rest. What does Jesus say in Matthew 11:28? Matthew 11:28 Jesus says, Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. You know that theme throughout the Bible. No rest for the wicked, no peace for the wicked, all vanity and toil, and nothing is accomplished. And Jesus says, come to me, I'll give it to you. Jesus is the only one who can give man rest. Notice when he says, take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart. Ye shall have rest unto your souls. You say, now wait a minute. If he's going to make an animal of me, I have to bear this yoke. This is going to be terrible. Jesus says, no, I'll give you rest if you come to me. Why? For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. In Revelation, the 14th chapter, John says, and there is no rest for the wicked day and night. Yet he goes on to say, in verse 13, and I heard a voice from heaven saying, write. Imagine if you heard God talking from heaven. John, write this message. Don't miss this, John. Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth. Yea, saith the Spirit, as the very Holy Spirit of God says, amen to this message. Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors and their works followeth them. No man can adequately teach or preach that message. You can only adequately understand that sort of thing when you know it in your heart of hearts. You know what it is to be cast about and distressed and to be pushing and laboring and being frustrated. Jesus says, my yoke is easy. Come to me, and I'll give you rest. For so he giveth his beloved sleep. The wicked can't sleep, not in the spiritual sense, being able to rest. But we can. In Hebrews the fourth chapter, verses 1 to 11, the author of Hebrews says, let us fear therefore, lest aptly a promise being left of entering into his rest, any one of you should seem to have come short of it. For indeed we have had good tidings, the gospel preached unto us, even as also they who the Old Testament Israelites. But the word of hearing did not profit them, because it was not united by faith with them that heard. For we who have believed, those of us who have faith today, do enter into that rest, even as he hath said, as I swear in my wrath, they shall not enter into my rest, although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. For he hath said somewhere of the seventh day on this wise and God rested on the seventh day from all his works. And in this place again it says, they shall not enter into my rest. Seeing therefore it remaineth that some should enter thereinto and they to whom the gospel tidings were before preached failed to enter in because of disobedience. He again defineth a certain day today, saying in David, so long a time afterward, even as he had said before, to day, if ye shall hear his voice, harden not your hearts. For if Joshua had given them rest, he would not have spoken afterward of another day. There remaineth therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest hath himself also rested from his works, as God did from his. Let us therefore give diligence to enter into that rest, that no man shall fall after the same example of disobedience, Israel was promised rest from her taskmasters. Israel could not enter ultimately spiritually and eternally into that rest because of her disobedience. And so the author says, there yet remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. What is that? Sabbath rest. The eternal rest that God offers to us. Those of us who anticipate that eternal rest, of course, should see to it that we continue to observe and enjoy and anticipate it. By means of what? The weekly Sabbath. The sad thing about antinomianism in the church is not simply that it's untrue to the word of God. The sad thing about those who don't want the law of God is that they can't enjoy its benefits. Those who know the Sabbath commandment and can rest today, all day from their labors know. But you see a foretaste of what Jesus said when he said, I will give you rest. And when the author of Hebrews says, we shall yet enter into that rest. And the author of Revelation says, blessed are those who die in the Lord, yea, says the Spirit, that they may have rest from their labors. Let's close. Our Father were both terrified, comforted by this passage of your holy word. And we pray that by your spirit, both elements of this teaching would have their appropriate effects upon us, that the results of these teachings might be seen and felt in our lives. We pray, Lord, that you would teach us to fear you, to reverence you above all, but to fear your red hot judgment. Lord, teach us to flee from sin, to hate sin, to put it aside, to turn from it, to embrace the Savior, Jesus Christ. That we wouldn't be like those who have no rest day and night, but might enjoy the rest which he alone can offer us. Comfort our hearts with that message and help us to enjoy this day all day long. For it's in Jesus name we pray. Amen.