Revelation 14:6-11 - Homiletics

The three angels.

The varied scenes in this book are, to us, not so much pictures of events which, when once occurring, exhaust the meaning of the prophecy, but rather representations of what is continuously going on and repeatedly renewing itself—of present day realities, and not merely of passing incident. The passage before us, looked at in this light, is full of most stimulating teaching; full of comfort to those whose faces are set in the right direction, and full of terrific warning to others. We can bear a great deal if we know what the worst wilt be, and that sooner or later it will be over. To see through a trouble is a great relief in it, and, a fortiori, if at the end there is glory. In these sentences will be found the key to a great deal in the book, and, in fact, an indication of its aim. The believer is shown that there is much tribulation awaiting the Church ere the end shall come; but there will be an end to it, and brightness beyond it. It is otherwise with the scene set before the ungodly. In their horizon there is no discernible ray of light. And all the visions of this book thus alternate between the light and the shade. In the paragraph before us for present study we have a vision of three angels flying in the midst of heaven. Their messages are precisely those which are being given throughout the Christian age; they belong as much to this century as to any other; to any other as much as to this. They give three messages which are perpetually true. We wilt study their messages seriatim.

I. THE FIRST ANGEL . ( Revelation 14:6 , Revelation 14:7 .)

1 . He has something.

2 . He says something. To this gospel (in itself a message) there is also attached a message: "Fear God... the hour of his judgment is come." κρίσις , not κρίμα —the judging process ever going on; not the issue, or sentence. The way in which man receives the gospel is in itself a test or proof of what he is. "For judgment I am come into this world." This is not the hour of God's final sentence. That is in reserve. But it is a judging hour. Whenever and wherever the gospel is preached—and only there—is the actual trial going on, whether men will turn to the light or turn from it. Men are called on to give glory to him, acknowledging his majesty, confessing their sin, and receiving God's pardon.

II. THE SECOND ANGEL . ( Revelation 14:8 .) He has to make the proclamation, "Babylon the great," etc. It seems as if this were inserted by anticipation. The fuller detail of riffs is given later on. "Nothing," says Dr. Lee, £ "is more marked than the contrast which is maintained between Babylon as the type of the world, and Jerusalem as the type of the Church. The one is introduced by the foundation of Babel soon after the Deluge; the other by the establishment of the house of David in the city of Zion. Babylon is a scene of confusion. Jerusalem is as a city that is compact together." Babylon breaks up. Jerusalem is the city that emerges out of the ruins. Thus the second angel is a coworker with the first. One is God's messenger to draw men out of the world. The second is one who proclaims the certain downfall of the great world agency which has set up its false attractions and lured men by its harlotry to forsake the Lord. And from the very first the sentence hath gone forth against this great Babylon, that she must fall. The false in life, in religion, in commerce, must go. All wickedness is decaying, and will utterly perish before the Lord. The heathen were wont to say, "The feet of the gods are shod with wool, but their hands are hands of iron."

III. THE THIRD ANGEL . ( Revelation 14:9-11 , "If any one," etc.) This is a proclamation to the individual. " If ( τίς ) any one." The judgment on great world powers may be national; that on the individual is personal. The former in this life only; the latter in the next also. "Worshippeth;" present tense, "is worshipping." If any is so found when the Lord cometh to judgment, if he is then drinking of "the wine of the wrath of Babylon's fornication," another cup shall be given him (" him " emphatic). "He also shall drink," etc. Of what? Of the wine of the unmixed wrath of God. Unmixed wrath? What can that be? God grant that we may never know! But may we not say thus much? It will be pure and holy wrath, unmixed with any foreign ingredients. It will not he marred by weakness, nor by excess, nor by defect. It will be a pure and perfect equity dealing with sin. The figurative expressions here—"fire," "brimstone," "smoke"—are terrible ones, drawn from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah; and only such figures will avail to set forth the destructive and devouring effect of holy wrath upon a guilty soul. What is the effect? "No rest;" "torment." There never can be any rest for a guilty conscience under the sway of Infinite Holiness. To those ill at ease with God there must be torment. The structure of mind and conscience necessitates this. For how long? "Forever and ever" (Authorized Version); in the margin of the Revised Version, "for ages of ages." This is the more nearly exact translation of the original. It does not affirm the absolute endlessness of the punishment. Since the word "age" has a plural, it plainly is not necessarily infinite. For no such word could have a plural. Infinity cannot even be doubled, much less be multiplied indefinitely. Further, no finite multiple of a finite term can possibly reach infinity. So that to affirm the absolute unendingness of this punishment would be to go beyond the text. At the same time, it is equally clear that the words are so terrible that they do not bring in sight any end of it. Nor is there the slightest gleam of light in the horizon for the finally impenitent.

More at length, elsewhere, has the present writer developed this dread theme. £ The position to which we are shut up in Scripture is this: God has not shown us an end to future punishment. We dare not affirm that it never will end; but if any one does that, he does it entirely at his own risk. Objection: "But this phrase is the very strongest which is employed in the Word of God to denote absolute unendingness. We reply, No. It is a fearfully strong expression for an indefinitely prolonged period; but there are stronger expressions; e.g. "Thy kingdom is a kingdom of all the ages" ( Psalms 145:13 ); "To him be glory … through all the generations of the age of the ages" ( Ephesians 3:21 ); "My salvation shall be forever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished" ( Isaiah 51:6 ); "Not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an indissoluble life," etc. ( Hebrews 7:16 ). The strongest expressions, which declare absolute unendingness, are reserved in Scripture for the good alone. Even when we grant all this, however, the outlook for the wicked is one of unspeakable gloom; of a night with no revealed morn beyond it. There is, however, one more feature of this penalty. It will be inflicted "in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb." There is a profound interest taken in the destinies of man in the distant places of creation. The angels are supremely concerned for the honour of the Son of God. And they will acknowledge that God's judgments are right. The Son of God, too, who died for us, will himself be the Judge. All things are put into his hand. "God so loved the world that he gave his Son;" but he does not love less that Son whom he gave. And while he will not dishonour that Son by letting any sinner who repents remain unforgiven, so neither will he dishonour him by letting any one who rejects such a Saviour remain unpunished. Finally, we deem it of infinite moment, when a preacher has to handle these awful themes, that he should show with vivid clearness that it is sin which is to be mainly dreaded, rather than its penalty. Sin is the infraction of law. The punishment is God's defence of law. Could we wish for a time to come when existing sin would not be punished? Could we wish that the punishment of sin should be in any other hands than those of a pure and holy God? Could we wish that God should give a law, and never guard its honour? Could we wish that he should give us a gospel, and then let it be rejected with impunity? Could we wish that he should surrender the Son of his love, and then let him be trampled underfoot, and remain unvindicated? "But," it may be said, "while I fully confirm that, still I do long for the time to come when sin will cease altogether." Be it so. If God wills it, so it will be sooner or later; but we cannot find any clear disclosure of that. Three things only remain for us to see to: