Revelation 14: 1-20
(1) Then I looked, and behold, the Lamb was standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His Name and the Name of His Father written on their foreheads.
Mount Zion literally is where Solomon built the temple, but throughout Scripture it describes the rule of the Lord God as King on the Earth. These are the Israelites who believe that Jesus is their Messiah.
(2) And I heard a voice from Heaven, like the sound of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder, and the voice which I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps.
(3) And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders; and no one could learn the song except the one hundred and forty-four thousand who had been purchased from the Earth.
This choir of 144,000 have vocal chords like harps, and they are singing in a heavenly voice in resurrected bodies.
(4) These are the ones who have not been defiled with women, for they have kept themselves chaste. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These have been purchased from among men as first fruits to God and to the Lamb.
(5) And no lie was found in their mouth; they are blameless.
These are the first Israelites who are saved in this time. The rest of Israel will be saved in a day, when they see Jesus come down through the clouds.
(6) And I saw another angel flying in midheaven, having an eternal gospel to preach to those who live on the Earth, and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people;
(7) And he said with a loud voice, "Fear God, and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come; worship Him who made the heaven and the Earth and sea and springs of waters."
This first angel gives everyone one last chance to recognize God.
(8) 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 second angel proclaims the destruction of Babylon, the details of which we will read about later, in chapters 17 and 18.
(9) Then another angel, a third one, followed them, saying with a loud voice, "If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand,
(10) "he also will drink of the wine of he wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.
(11) "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."
Here is the finality of those who take this mark. Evidently this mark will prevent anyone who receives it from being able to understand how wonderful God is and will believe all the lies of the Antichrist.
(12) Here is the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.
As children of God, born into His family, we are to persevere in our faith and in our trust of God, regardless of what is going on around us. Even if it means we may die.
(13) 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."
There will be more martyrs during this time than during any other time in history. Already today there are more martyrs than ever before, but during this time of the second three and a half years there will be exponentially more.
(14) 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.
This looks like Christ, the Son of Man who has the crown of authority.
(15) And another 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."
I don't think an angel would be commanding his Creator, so this angel must be relaying to the Son that the Father has given the command that "it is time."
(16) Then He who sat on the cloud swung His sickle over the Earth, and the Earth was reaped.
The sickle in His hand is symbolic because He is calling out His people from the Earth, the event that theologians call "The Rapture."
(17) And another angel came out of the temple which is in Heaven, and he also had a sharp sickle.
(18) 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."
This is what Jesus said in Matthew 13: 39 when He said, "the harvest is the end of the world, and the reapers are the angels."
(19) 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.
(20) And the wine press was trodden outside the city, and blood came out from the wine press, up to the horses' bridles, for a distance of two hundred miles.
This is the Battle of Armageddon, when will flow the blood of all the armies in the world who are attacking Israel, who find themselves fighting King Jesus, and He cuts them to ribbons with the Sword that proceeds out of His mouth, His Words!
These are horrifying times. All the evil in the world has been let loose; and combined with the wrath of God poured out on the Earth, there would be no life at all that could survive, had not God limited it to this short time.
God will allow this to show us just how wicked and destructive evil is, even as Satan disguises it as fun and freedom.
We are seeing things, not in the order that they will occur, but I doubt that anyone yet has been able to deduce God's entire timeline. He's given us all the pieces in different places among His prophets, and I think He's given John the most pieces in this book of Revelation: the final prophesies--that helps us put all the rest of them in place.
O my Father, please help us to be ready to face everything that is ahead of us in Your timeline. Strengthen us to withstand all the barrages of the enemy, and show us how to understand what You have told us.
My Father, without Your Holy Spirit as our Teacher, we would not be able to make sense of any of this whole fantastic scenario; but You have told us, because this is what You will do. You are God, and You do supernatural things that puny human minds cannot fathom. They seem to be impossible to our thinking, but all things are possible for You. Because all of Creation is Your imagination. And You can imagine anything!
Father, send out Your children to share with every living being how much You love us all, and sent Your own Son to be the personal Sacrifice for each one of us, so we could be washed clean, fit to be in Your presence as Your own family.
Please let them all understand enough to make an informed decision to turn to You or to get the damning mark and be lost forever.
Every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will proclaim that Jesus is our Christ, our Savior and Redeemer, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come swiftly, Lord Jesus!
