Verse 1 And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads.
The Jehovah Witness religion teaches that only 144,000 special, really worthy church members will be making up this specific number of believers. The problem with this is that all of Revelation is a book of metaphor and so it is necessary to understand what 144,000 represents before any sense or understanding can ocurr regarding the rest of these verses. As stated before, the number 144 is 12 X 12 = 144 and this is a representation of all the Old Testament saints (the 12 tribes of Israel) and of all the New Testament saints (the 12 apostles). The number 1000 means unlimited or all of them. The Lamb, being capitalized, is the LORD Jesus Christ. “And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God!” John 1:36 The Apostle John is seeing Jesus with believers. These believers do not have the mark of the beast in their foreheads which means they are not followers of Satan and his beast system, but they have the name of God in their foreheads which means they are followers of Jesus and of His spiritual Kingdom. The forehead is metaphor for the mind and therefore includes how a person thinks and makes decisions based on that thinking.
Verses 2-3 And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps: 3 And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.
Please note that the Apostle John is hearing voices and music that are sounds of worship. However, there is one voice that needs to be identified and that is the voice from Heaven that sounds like thunder and rushing water. Back to the Old Testament one must go to find out whose voice this is. “The voice of the LORD is upon the waters: the God of glory thundereth: the LORD is upon many waters.” Psalms 29:3 So this voice is God who, when manifesting as a living man, is Jesus Christ. Remember that verbs with “eth” endings in the King James Bible means that the action is ongoing. “And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east: and his voice was like a noise of many waters: and the earth shined with his glory.” Ezekiel 43:2 Let’s not forget Revelation 1:15 which describes the Apostle John’s vision of a glorified Jesus Christ. “And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.” So the believers are singing a new song in Heaven. Why a new song? Surely there are hundreds of praise and worship songs that believers learn while in their fleshly bodies that they will remember when they are in their spiritual bodies in Heaven. Well, the new song is not necessarily literal. It could be, but as metaphor, the new song most likely represents the joy of the saints because they are in the presence of the LORD Jesus Christ and out of the influence of a wicked and perverse, devil-controlled world. Their worship is new in that it is not burdened by mental, physical and emotional distractions that all believers have while living on this Earth. Their worship is a pure melody of thanksgiving, love, praise, and worship.
Verses 4-5 These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. 5 And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.
These verses are not to be taken literally. God created male and female and the reproductive act referred to by most as sex, and He commanded the first couple, Adam and Eve, in Genesis chapter one to, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it:” Genesis 1:28 So women do not defile others. Sin defiles others. And the believers in this vision cannot all be men who refrained from sex. Again, what is the metaphor related to the nouns women and virgins? Remember that in most Scripture the reader is to look for a natural meaning first and then a spiritual meaning. But Revelation is a book of metaphor, and so most of the time it is acceptable to skip the natural and go straight to the spiritual meaning. God refers to idolatry and false religions as harlots/harlotry. The opposite of a harlot would be a virgin. So these believers have not strayed from the truth of the Gospel and from their devotion and worship of the one true LORD. They have not embraced false religions, false bibles, and the idolatry that goes with them. They are not crafty or deceitful (guile) and are perfect through the LORD Jesus Christ and His sacrifice so that they can stand before the throne of God.
Verses 6-7 And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, 7 Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.
The Gospel was being preached when John was on the Isle of Patmos penning this book. The Gospel is being preached today. The Gospel will be preached tomorrow for as long as the LORD tarries and allows time to continue. To this writer’s knowledge, there is no country or language group that has not been reached with the Gospel at some time. As long as the white horse in Revelation chapter six is riding, the Word of God will continue to be presented to those who will listen.
Attention needs to be given to the angel’s commands. To fear God for the believer means to reverence, obey and treat with respect. For the unbeliever, it means to be afraid of, to flee from or to be terrified of.
How does one give God glory? The Greek word translated as “glory” is “doxa” and it means to always give a good opinion concerning the LORD which results in praise, honour, and reverence. God is given glory when a believer shares the truth of the Gospel with other people. God is given glory when a miracle is rightly credited to Him instead of being credited to “coincidence” or “good luck”. God is given glory when the truth of His Creation is believed according to what the Bible says instead of “science falsely so called”. 1 Timothy 6:20 God is given glory when parents instruct their children about the LORD and His Word. God is given glory when His Word is not diluted and misrepresented by false, so called new Bible versions. God is given glory when a church sings hymns and worship songs from the heart and not from an entertainment perspective. God is given glory when church attendance is more important to the believer than Sunday football or sports or a family get together. God is given glory when Bible reading and prayer is more important than television or Internet. God is given glory when He is placed in first position in the believer’s life.
Application: Some believers are waiting for God’s judgement to fall upon this wicked world and are not aware that His judgement has been upon all governments and upon all unrepentant people destined for Hell and it continues to be so. The verse above states that the hour of His judgement IS come. That puts His judgement in the presence tense and not to some future moment in time.
Verse 8 And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
Ancient Babylon is modern day Iraq. It is still a nation and so it has not fallen, and the verse above does not talk about a nation, but about a city. So what is the meaning of Babylon in respect to the spiritual interpretation of this verse? It is from Babylon that the Jews developed their false religion. It was this false religious system Jesus rebuked during His ministry on Earth. “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.” Mathew 23:15 Notice that Jesus said the scribes and Pharisees were children of hell. The Jewish belief system is not based upon the Old Testament, but upon the Babylonian Talmud which is demonic. This library of books can be purchased should the reader want to investigate what they say. However, out of this false religious system has come other religions such as Free Masonry and Catholicism. Catholicism, with all the denominations that have come from this demonic system, poses as Christian, but it is the opposite of the Christian faith and merely a Jewish belief system for the non-Jew. Babylon is spiritual darkness and idolatry.
How did all the nations fornicate with this system? Remember that God equates human harlotry and sexual impurity to false religions, false bibles, and idolatry. This Babylonian system has polluted all the nations both physically and spiritually. At one time the Catholic church ruled most of the world. A king or queen could not be crowned without the approval and presence of a priest or some representative of the Catholic church. After all, if the priest puts the crown on a person, that person must have the approval of God. Even today, in the UNITED STATES each president has a religious person at the inauguration to make the case that God put that person into office. But remember that an augur was a Roman diviner or a person who took omens. So to inaugurate a person means to have that person take omens. This is witchcraft and not of God. And one wonders why human governments are under the judgement of God. Royalty always has/had a priest or archbishop present for their official functions. Likewise, under the Rothschild dynasty, all the money and all the banks of the world have been controlled for centuries by Jewish individuals. So has most of the printing /publishing houses and news outlets, not to mention Hollywood and the entertainment industry. Both of these religious systems are associated with human/child trafficking. Please be aware that these comments are not to be applied to the Catholic believer or Jewish person that is part of struggling humanity, but applied to those who have been in control of this world through the power of Satan and his fallen angels. The average Catholic was no more responsible for the torture and purges of the Catholic church’s inquisition than the average Jew was responsible for the misery of WW11. Other false religious and political systems are part of Babylon such as Wicca, but the examples above should demonstrate to the reader the meaning of the verses above. So this Babylonian system has controlled the entire nations of the world in some way. This Babylonian system is rebellion against and an abandonment of the LORD Jesus Christ and of His Word.
Verses 9-11 And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, 10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall 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 ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
Without going into extensive Bible verses related to Hell, the above description of torment, fire and brimstone (sulfur), smoke, no rest day or night, and separation from a loving God describes the conditions reported to make up eternal life in Hell. Remember that Hell was created for fallen angels, but according to Isaiah 5:14-16, “Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it. And the mean man shall be brought down, and the mighty man shall be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled: But the LORD of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and God that is holy shall be sanctified in righteousness.” So because of the continual sins of mankind, this eternal place of punishment has been enlarged and keeps growing to accommodate unrepentant people.
If a person values something above the LORD Jesus Christ, that person is worshiping that which is valued so highly. When a person relies on government rather than on God for everything in life, the government is receiving the worship. People have accepted corrupt government, corrupt educational systems, corrupt financial systems, corrupt judicial systems and laws, corrupt medical systems, corrupt agricultural systems, and corrupt religious systems without any resistance to these anti-Christ entities. People are worshiping a beast system. And now with the lie about COVID-19, instead of trusting the LORD for their health and well-being, people, including Christian believers, have rushed down to their local clinic, pharmacy, hospital or jab center to take a poison into their bodies, bodies which the LORD created in the image of Adam who was created in the image of God. They have received the mark of this beast system into their blood which Scripture states is the life of a person or critter. “For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.” Leviticus 17:11 By polluting the blood with an experimental DNA altering substance, has an individual lost atonement for their soul? Atonement means to be at one with God, to be reconciled with Him. The verses above say “yes”. You decide.
Verses 12-13 Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. 13 And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.
Saints are all those who belong to Jesus, the dead in Christ physically and the dead in Christ that are living today. To be dead in Christ means to die to self, to the things of this world, and to the influence of devils. Catholicism teaches that a person must die physically before they can be a saint. But as stated elsewhere in this study, a brief look at the New Testament books demonstrates that they were written to physically living saints in various cities such as Lydda (Acts 9:32), Rome (Romans 1:7), Achaia (2 Corinthians 1:1) and so forth. So saints today are the true believers in the LORD Jesus Christ, both those in Heaven and those here on Earth. And earthly saints have to be patient in order to live in this sinful world in a manner pleasing to the LORD. The idea in the verses above is that physical death is a blessing for Christian believers as they will be in the presence of Jesus in Heaven for ever and will no longer have to tolerate the wickedness and depravity and cruelty of this world’s beast system.
Verses 14-15 And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. 15 And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe.
The white cloud is metaphor for purity and holiness and, being in the heavens where Scripture states God’s throne resides, the Apostle John is clearly seeing the LORD Jesus Christ who is God manifested in the flesh. In this vision, however, Jesus is holding a sickle which is a sharp curved or semicircular metal bladed farming tool with a short handle for cutting grain or hay or for lopping off weeds. This tool is in His hand indicating that work is to start in the fields of this Earth. According to the angel, the harvest is ready. Whether this harvest has been ongoing or whether this harvest was to begin with the taking of the mark of the beast this writer does not know. Revelation is a book about things “which must shortly come to pass” (Revelation 1:1) and “the time is at hand” (Revelation 1:3). It is also being revealed to the Apostle John by “the LORD, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty” (Revelation 1:8). This writer’s experience with growing food crops is that the harvesting of these vegetables or fruits is ongoing in small amounts at first as the seeds mature and bear fruit, but then intensifies towards the end of the growing season. So this writer believes that a harvest has been occurring since the Apostle John penned this book, but that the sin of this world is now so great, and mankind is so depraved that righteous fruit is becoming scarcer and scarcer, bringing the “growing season” (mankind’s living and populating the Earth) to an end, and that the final harvest of souls referred to by Jesus as recorded in Matthew 13:39 is at hand.
Application: Jesus during His earthly ministry was referred to as the Son of man. He is both the Son of man (flesh) and the Son of God (the Spirit of God residing in a body of flesh). As such, He was able to experience all the temptations common to man and yet remain sinless so that He could fulfill the Law perfectly which no living man or living woman could/can keep. He was perfect and sinless and therefore able to be the final Sacrificial Lamb that physically died in the place of sinful mankind so that forgiveness of sins and eternal life could be available for anyone who chose/chooses to make Jesus their LORD and Savior. “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” Hebrews 4:15
In order to fully understand this harvest, the words of Jesus need to be reviewed:
“Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: Thither cause thy mighty ones to come down O LORD. Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about. Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.” Joel 3:11-13
“Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength, therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants, and shalt set it with strange slips: In the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish: but the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.” Isaiah 17:10-11
“Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few: Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.” Matthew 9:37-38
“Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn: Matthew 13:30
“The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.: Matthew 13:39
“Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields: for they are white already to harvest.” John 4:35
One thing to understand is that in this final harvest, the weeds or the tares will be gathered or removed by the sickle and the angels of God first. This goes completely against the demonic teachings of Cyrus I. Scofield, whose teachings permeate today the organized, evangelical, establishment churches. His teachings are that there will be a “rapture”, a term taken from the Babylonian Talmud that refers to sexual excitement, in which all of God’s saints will be taken from the Earth, leaving only the unbelievers behind to face a terrible time of “tribulation”. Scripture does not teach this. Scripture, as seen in the verses above and in the writings of the Apostles, clearly teaches that Jesus sends the angels out to lop off and remove the weeds or the unbelievers first. It is the saints that are left behind, not the unrepentant sinners. Because of this false teaching that the churches have embraced, the congregations are confused and unable to see the “signs of the times” that are occurring right before their eyes. It is not the Christian believer that has refused to take the COVID-19 jab that is dying of respiratory or heart failure, stroke, blood embolism, HIV, a damaged immune system, and so forth. It is the unbeliever that is serving Satan, either by choice or by default because of a refusal to follow Jesus. The LORD Jesus Christ has promised to take care of His people and He does not lie and His promises are true.
Verses 16-20 And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped. 17 And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. 18 And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe. 19 And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. 20 And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs. (Revelation 14)
The Greek word translated as “wrath” is “thumos” and it means fierceness, indignation, passion, angry, heat, anger forthwith boiling up and soon subsiding again, and an inflaming wine which either drives the drinker mad or kills him with its strength. Think about these meanings for a moment and understand that the God of the Creation, the Savior and King, has only demonstrated His love, compassion, grace and mercy towards sinful mankind since the event called Noah’s flood. But His patience is running out and His judgement will fall and is falling on this world right now. Babylon, the beast system of control, is falling. Since there is still time, you, the reader, might want to evaluate your relationship with the LORD and be sure that you are in right standing with Him before the full force of His wrath is brought forth upon this Earth.