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When our two oldest children were just tots, we lived in the southeast corner of Alabama in a farming community. Farmland encircled the pastorium where we lived. In that area, it encircled everyone! Toward the end of winter, dust blew through the flat land as the farmers broke up the ground hardened over the months after harvest. Planting time soon followed with a flurry of activity, tractors humming, fertilizer slogging into the soil, and corn, peanut, and soybean seeds nestling into the chocolate brown dirt to grow toward harvest. Throughout the next several months, the farmers plowed and sprayed and fertilized and irrigated in hope of reaping a large harvest. Finally, harvest came. The peanuts virtually broke through the ground as the soil began to crack by the pressure of their full growth. The corn stalks grew tall with their golden heads waving, and the ears bright yellow and full. Ripened soybeans covered waist-high plants. Combines whirled the fields by day and with bright headlights by night, keeping the farmers on schedule. Nothing seemed more urgent to the farmer than harvest. Though things appeared calm for a time, when harvest arrived, the pace for gathering the crop did not abate until all was harvested. No one loitered; everyone had a task to perform with the utmost speed to ensure that all was harvested.
Jesus spoke parables related to planting and harvesting. The parable of the sower (or the soils) explains a regenerate heart by good soil and yielding a crop (Matt. 13:8). The parable of the tares and the wheat involve both the edible grain and noxious weed growing together “until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest,” Jesus said, “I will say to the reapers, “First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn” (Matt. 13:30). He explained that the angels do the work of harvesting at the end of the age (Matt. 13:36-43).
These parables, along with others, lay groundwork for understanding the implications in the harvest-language of Revelation. Harvest implies an expectation of the end; that all that has been planted and growing will one day be culminated in the harvest. When God determines that the harvest is ready, then both those declared righteous in Christ and those rebellious against Him, will be suddenly harvested: the first to know the eternal joys of Christ; the second to experience the terror of God’s eternal wrath. How soon the harvest, none knows; its certainty, though, is without doubt. Be ready for the harvest.
Let’s return to our context once again to make proper sense of this passage. John addresses suffering, oppressed believers in Asia Minor. They felt the heaviness of the Roman Empire against them as Christians. Some struggled with the temptation to give in to the world, to go light on their Christian faith and strong on compromise with emperor worship, immoral practices, and even being marked by the sins of the world. So John exhorts them through the gospel to bear up in the strength of Christ; to realize what was happening among them; to not give up but to press on in faithfulness; to realize that Christ loses none of His flock. They could only do this if they understood the end. John takes them—and us—to the end; with certainty, the great harvest lays ahead of us. Be ready for the harvest.
How do you live like a Christian when there’s nothing Christian around you? Everywhere these believers looked, wickedness abounded. Rome’s entire perspective, politically and religiously and ethically, stood antithetical to the gospel of grace. Temptation to give in—to bear the marks of the ways of Rome—grew with the pressure of every sunrise. Some likely struggled, thinking that nothing could ever eclipse the might and pervasiveness of the Roman Empire.
But the kingdoms of this world offer only temporary greatness. None last. There will not be a Roman Empire in heaven or a Kingdom of Babylon or a United States of America or a Great Britain. When the accuser of the brethren—the dragon—was thrown down by the crucified and resurrected Christ, the kingdom of God and the authority of His Christ came in power, superseding all the powers and kingdoms of the world (Rev. 12:10). Yet we can be so overwhelmed by the pervasive influence and dominating power of the world that we forget it holds only temporary greatness. The second in a trio of angels reminds us that the world in opposition to God will not last.
After the first angel flew through midheaven with an eternal gospel to proclaim, calling the world to “fear God, and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come,” the second angel announces Babylon’s end. “And another angel, a second one, followed, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who has made all the nations drink of the wine of the passion of her immorality.” The repetitive “fallen, fallen” is tantamount to using exclamation points in modern English grammar. Babylon has fallen! Because of the certainty of Babylon’s fall, the angel speaks with past tense as though it has already happened.
Who is Babylon, anyway? Ancient Babylon epitomized Judah’s grand enemy. Though the northern kingdom of Israel had fallen to the Assyrians in 724 B.C., Judah was protected by the Lord until Babylon destroyed Jerusalem, captured and deported their citizens, and assimilated them into the Babylonian culture (586 B.C.). From that point, Babylon represented the world in idolatrous rebellion against God. Its king, Nebuchadnezzar boasted, “Is this not Babylon the great, which I myself have built as a royal residence by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?” (Dan. 4:30). Great? Yes, he used the superlative to describe Babylon, and the idolatrous focus woven into the framework that governed its daily life. John borrows that language, personifying the world in rebellion against God’s sovereign rule as “Babylon the great.” He includes Rome in the present usage but does not limit Babylon to Rome since he thinks globally. Babylon “has made the nations drink of the wine of her immorality.” Her corruption spreads so that Babylon is “the symbol of man in community opposed to the things of God” [Leon Morris, TNTC: Revelation, 180]. Her greatness fades before the great God.
The Apostle often introduces a theme, and then comes back later to fill in the details. For instance, he introduces the beast in 11:7 but doesn’t really tell us much about him until chapter 13. Likewise, John introduces in our text, Babylon as the personification of humanity in idolatrous rebellion against God, while filling in the details of Babylon and its fall in chapters 17-20. John anticipates the fall of anything that holds itself out to be great in light of the singular greatness of the God who created the heavens and the earth.
Chapter 14 introduces judgment language. One angel announces, “The hour of His judgment has come” (14:7). Another announces the fall of Babylon, indicating divine judgment orchestrating its fall. But who will be numbered among those judged by God? Who will face the wrath of God? The third angel offers clarification. Those sealed by God, symbolically having the name of God and the Lamb written on their foreheads, cannot face God’s wrath for one reason: the Lamb has already absorbed the full measure of God’s wrath on behalf of the redeemed. He drank the cup of God’s anger for us (Matt. 26:39). The righteous God cannot judge where judgment has already fallen upon His Son at the cross. But those not sealed by God, but rather marked by the beast, will face God’s wrath.
The “loud voice” of the third angel indicates the global scope of his pronouncement. “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger…” Then he repeats almost verbatim the same description as he reinforces the eternal punishment constituting God’s wrath. “And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.”
Why does John use such strong language? He does so for at least two specific reasons. First, he warns those who have not taken heed to the gospel that God’s patience will one day be spent; judgment will come. Flee the wrath of God by finding refuge in the crucified Lamb of God whose death bore the fierceness of judgment for sinners.
Second, he’s reminding those that have professed faith in Christ but seem to be faltering with temptation to compromise with the idolatry of the world. Take note of the world’s end. The mark of the beast indicates the indelible spirit of rebellion against God characterizing those spurning the grace of God in Christ. See the end of those so marked. Eternal danger awaits all bearing the mark of the beast. Be careful not to cast your lot with the world—its days are numbered before wrath falls forever upon it.
John explained the dragon’s rage when he saw that he could not ultimately destroy the church (12:17). The word used to describe this implies a settled, unwavering anger. John uses the root of this word that is translated as “anger,” “the cup of His anger,” to help us grasp God’s wrath. First, he speaks of those marked by the beast as drinking “of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger.” “Wrath,” (thumos) expresses burning anger; the passionate, explosiveness of anger unleashed. The dragon’s rage came out of hatred for the good and love for the evil. God’s wrath is the result of His love for the good and hatred for the evil. God’s wrath, therefore, is pure, righteous, and just since it is not the feelings of one slighted but the pursuit of eternal justice and good. Where sin and rebellion exist, justice and goodness do not. God patiently bears with sinful men. But the time of His wrath will come. Rather than being diluted, as the Greeks diluted their wine with water and spices, John states that it will be mixed undiluted “in the cup of His anger.” Anger (orgē) refers to the settled feeling of God’s righteous indignation. It’s the stored up justice finally and fully unleashed.
Several times this year, we’ve heard reports of gigantic avalanches suddenly breaking away with instantaneously destructive power. But an avalanche doesn’t happen overnight. It’s the culmination of layer upon layer of snow building up until the day it gives way. Anger (orgē) is like that. God’s righteous anger has built up over the years of mankind’s rebellion against His law and gospel. The day will come when the avalanche of wrath will break forth with eternal destructiveness. No one can abate it. None deserving wrath will be able to hide except those who have taken refuge in the crucified Lamb of God.
Second, what human language can describe something so fierce yet so righteous? John uses the only language that he understands. The unbeliever “will be tormented with fire and brimstone [burning sulfur] in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.” Believers suffered before the world. Many were publicly martyred in the Coliseum by gladiators and wild beasts or in Rome’s Circus Maximus, hung as human torches to light up the chariot races for entertaining tens of thousands. Others have been burned to death, decapitated, tortured to death, drown, hung, and gunned down or left to rot in filthy prisons. Throughout the centuries, martyred believers have been publicly shamed before men. But the judgment of God will shame evil men even more. They will be tormented before the pure and righteous audience of the holy angels and the Lamb of God. As one writer expressed, “In keeping with many other scenes of this book where the deepest sting that bitter conscience is dealt is that it must suffer while utter purity is looking on” [L. Morris, 181, quoting J. P. Love, I, II, III John, Jude, Revelation (Layman’s Bible Commentaries, 1960)].
Third, no relief will spare their torment. “And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; they have no rest day and night.” In contrast, John declares that those who die in the Lord will rest from their wearying labors (v. 13).
Dare any of us presume upon the mercy of God? One place of refuge remains from the destiny that each of us deserves with God’s wrath: the cross of Christ—where the wrath has already been spent on behalf of all that would believe and trust in the Lamb of God.
John’s purpose carries both a call to turn to Christ for those unbelieving and urgency for believers to keep pressing on even when things seem unbearable. So he paints the graphic picture of God’s wrath from which none can hide but under the shelter of Christ who bore God’s wrath at the cross. This latter purpose is clearly underscored for us.
“Here is the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.” Perseverance is right at this spot, John is saying. It is when we come face to face with the reality of divine wrath, knowing that we deserve the full measure of holy wrath to be poured out upon us forever. Yet, not for any goodness on our part, God chose us out of the corruption of the world, not sparing His own Son, but spending the full measure of wrath upon the sinless, holy Lamb so that we might be saved. Here is the motivation you need to bear up under the strain of persecution, opposition, and adversity. See the empty cross! See where the Son of God became the object of His own Father’s white hot hatred! Consider the wrath that you deserve but the Lamb bore it for you; then persevere. “Here we are called to endure,” writes Dennis Johnson, “not despite our enemies present power but because of their future destruction” [Triumph of the Lamb, 208].
What is perseverance? The word literally means to bear up or to endure. John calls it, “the perseverance of the saints,” distinguishing it from any other kind of religious perseverance. It is those that have been set apart by the new birth that, while being sustained by the preserving power of God, continue in faithfulness to Christ. Because they are “kept by the power of God” (1 Pet. 1:7), because it is God who is at work in them both to will and to work for His good pleasure (Phil. 2:13), those genuinely in the faith keep pressing on. They may falter along the way; they may even fall and fail. But none falls finally who are kept by God’s power until the final redemption is accomplished.
John further qualifies what is meant by perseverance: “who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.” The old hymn expresses it well, “Trust and obey, for there’s no other way, to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.” Perseverance actually has substance; attentive obedience to God’s commands and ongoing reliance and trust in Jesus Christ in all of His sufficiency. Are you persevering as a Christian? That means that you never get away from trusting Christ and obeying Him. Again, you may falter; you may have some big flops along the way. But the heart desire is to continue following after Christ. That’s the evidence that one truly knows Christ.
John carries this further along by citing the second of seven beatitudes in Revelation. “And I heard a voice from heaven, saying, “Write, ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on!’” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “so that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow with them.” Here, John uses the same word that Christ used in the Beatitudes of the Sermon on the Mount. “Blessed” (makarioi) literally means, ‘Oh the multiplied happiness of,” which brings out the plural noun. The superlative condition of death for those in union with the Lord is highlighted. That stands in sharp contrast to both the suffering at the hand of those with the mark of the beast and the wrath that the beast’s followers face. Though the martyrs would especially find this promise uplifting in the face of death, it is not limited to them. It’s for all believers—all who are “in the Lord.”
Our society treats death as though it robs us of life. For the unbelieving, then I would agree, for they face an eternity of wrath. Yet for the Christian, death ushers us into increasingly deeper dimensions of life without the presence of sin and with the presence of Christ. All that the unbelievers have to live for is in this life; so death robs them of any future joy or pleasure or happiness. But not the Christian! That’s why so many of those martyred for the sake of the gospel have welcomed death with open arms. If that seems morbid to you then think more upon this beatitude that looks at the Christian’s death as multiplied happiness.
In contrast to those bearing the mark of the beast, who “have no rest day and night,” those dying in the Lord find “rest from their labors.” “Labors” implies arduous, exhausting, and wearying toil. The context, particularly, aims to encourage believers living under the strain of the beast’s opposition. Whether ministry or occupation, when we seek to be faithful to Christ in the face of the world’s glaring opposition, the Holy Spirit promises future rest. “For their deeds [works] follow with them.” God doesn’t forget the faithful laboring in this life; our works follow us into His presence. That gives pause to ponder; what kind of works will follow you into heaven?
John now pictures two reapers. His language is intentionally global. He’s not just addressing Asia Minor or the Roman Empire or 1st century humanity. He steps back and considers the grand finale of the human race. While there is a sense that the Lord regularly reaps the earth—taking the redeemed into His presence and sending the unbelieving into His wrath, he seems to especially point to the time that God draws a conclusion to the earthly existence.
The description, though debated by scholars, leaves little doubt that John saw Jesus Christ gathering the ripened harvest of the faithful. “Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and sitting on the cloud was one like a son of man, having a golden crown on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand.” The “white cloud” indicates the divine shekinah glory, Christ coming with the clouds, as Daniel prophesied (Dan. 7:13-14). “One like a son of man,” recalls John’s first description of Christ in 1:13 as well as Daniel’s prophesy. The “golden crown” pictures the victor’s crown won at the cost of His blood at the cross. The “sharp sickle in His hand” affirms Christ as the eternal judge, since the sickle is often used to picture judgment.
An angel “came out of the temple, crying out with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, ‘Put in your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come, because the harvest of the earth is ripe’.” The angel came from the presence of the Father with an urgent message that the time had come. Jesus told the disciples that no one knew the day of His return but the Father (Matt. 24:36). “Indeed, what Jesus taught while he was on earth, John now teaches in a symbolic apocalyptic manner” [Simon Kistemaker, NTC: Revelation, 417]. “Then He who sat on the cloud swung His sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped.” John adds one more encouraging note. Christ completes the work of reaping with faithfulness—none are lost. He gathers all the wheat into His barn, as He put it in the parable. He separates the wheat and the tares. Though believers live under the strain of worldly opposition, the day appointed will come when Christ gathers His people forever into His home. Will you be part of that great ingathering?
We might call this one “the grim reaper,” since the picture is one of judgment. Rather than “one like a son of man,” this one is an angel exercising divine judgment. “And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, and he also had a sharp sickle.” His origin implies that he came on a divine assignment. Here is God’s judgment being implemented. “Then another angel, the one who has power over fire, came out from the altar; and he called with a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, ‘Put in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, because her grapes are ripe’.” The distinction is made between both the reapers and their harvests. The same urgency is shown; the angel with power over fire indicates judgment, while coming from the altar indicates divine retribution against those who martyred the saints who were under the altar (6:9-11).
“So the angel swung his sickle to the earth and gathered the clusters from the vine of the earth, and threw them into the great wine press of the wrath of God.” The language is borrowed from Isaiah 63. “Who is this who comes from Edom, with garments of glowing colors from Bozrah, this One who is majestic in His apparel, marching in the greatness of His strength? “It is I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.” Why is Your apparel red, and Your garments like the one who treads in the wine press? “I have trodden the wine trough alone, and from the peoples there was no man with Me. I also trod them in My anger and trampled them in My wrath; and their lifeblood is sprinkled on My garments, and I stained all My raiment. For the day of vengeance was in My heart, and My year of redemption has come. I looked, and there was no one to help, and I was astonished and there was no one to uphold; so My own arm brought salvation to Me, and My wrath upheld Me. I trod down the peoples in My anger and made them drunk in My wrath, and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth” (Isa. 63:1-6). However poetic the language, the starkness of it shakes us from lethargy. The Lord God gathers and judges. “The great wine press of the wrath of God” will not cease until God has accomplished judgment on the world. “And the wine press was trodden outside the city,”—that is outside the abode of God’s people—“and blood came out from the wine press, up to the horses’ bridles, for a distance of two hundred miles.” The figurative language further expresses the extent of God’s judgment. Kistemaker adds, “God’s judgment is universal” [421].
None of us knows what season on God’s timetable we’re living in. But this we know for sure: harvest is coming—be ready.
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