Revelation 14, Four Contrasts

REVELATION CHAPTER 14

GOD'S FINAL JUDGEMENT

FOUR CONTRASTS

The First Contrast:

The followers of the beast and the followers of the Lamb.

Rev 13:8 (NIV)

All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast-- all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world.

Rev 14:4 (NIV)

These are those who did not defile themselves with women, for they kept themselves pure. They follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were purchased from among men and offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb.

The Second Contrast:

The wine of adultery and the wine of judgement.

Rev 14:8 (NIV)

A second angel followed and said, "Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great, which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries."

Rev 14:9-10 (NIV)

A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: "If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on the forehead or on the hand, he, too, will drink of the wine of God's fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. He will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb.

Anyone who follows after the evil world system and gives in to its sinful ways will also suffer the consequences of God's judgement.

The Third Contrast:

Torment and rest

Rev 14:11 (NIV)

And the smoke of their torment rises for ever and ever. There is no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and his image, or for anyone who receives the mark of his name."

Rev 14:13 (NIV)

Then I heard a voice from heaven say, "Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on." "Yes," says the Spirit, "they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them."

Those who thought they were at rest and at ease under the "protection" of the sinful world system will have no rest in the future world. They will find themselves in eternal torment.

Those who suffered persecution and attack from the evil world system will find rest in Jesus and God in the future world.

The Fourth Contrast:

The harvest of grain, the harvest of grapes

The blood of Jesus, the blood of those who do not believe

Rev 14:16 (NIV)

So he who was seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested.

Rev 14:19 (NIV)

The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God's wrath.

The first harvest here is a harvest of grain and the harvester is one like a son of man - Jesus. In Matthew 3:12, 13:30, and Luke 3:17 the day of judgement is described by the symbol of a grain harvest and the grain represents the righteous. There is no blood in this reaping of the earth because the blood of Jesus has already been shed for these people.

The second harvest is a harvest of grapes. The "vine of the earth" is harvested and the grapes are thrown into the "great wine press of the wrath of God." As the wine press is trodden, blood flows out. This is the blood of those who rejected Jesus and refused to repent of their sins. They are not protected by the blood of Jesus, so God demands the shedding of their blood. This is symbolic of their eternal judgement and torment.