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Chapters 12, 13, and 14 in Book 1 deal with the Great Tribulation and a brief view of God’s Judgments. Understanding these events, by weaving together the prophecies of the Old and New Testaments, addresses the many questions of eschatology that have engaged scholars for centuries. Specifically, the revealing of the abomination of desolation, in the person and actions of the Antichrist, is the central event that Christ tells us to watch for in the Olivet Discourse.
Chapter 12 is written primarily from a heavenly perspective. It introduces the Woman crowned with stars who represents Israel and gives birth to Christ. In this chapter, Satan who is cast down proceeds to make war on the Woman. The Woman is protected, so Satan makes war on Christians instead. The events described here stretch from the midpoint of Daniel’s Seventieth Week to its end.
In chapter 13, the Antichrist is revealed. His reign implements the persecution and killing of many millions of Christians in what is known as the Great Tribulation. The Antichrist also institutes a “voluntary” individual identifier known as the Mark of the Beast. That mark permanently claims the person who receives it, both physically and spiritually, for Satan by tying him irrevocably to the Antichrist. No one will be able to function economically in the world without the mark, so the pressure to take the mark will be severe. Not all who refuse to take the mark are Christians or Jews. There are others, and like Christians and Jews, they also will be persecuted and many put to death. The Great Tribulation and the Antichrist’s rule start at the midpoint of the Seventieth Week and lasts 3 ½ years. This chapter, while covering the same timeframe as chapter 12, is seen primarily from an earthly perspective. It is, however, largely described in words and symbols more familiar in John’s time than in our own.
In chapter 14 we read about the death of the 144,000 faithful and what happens to those who take the Mark of the Beast. The events of this chapter are written mostly from a Heavenly perspective and happen at specific points after the midpoint that will become clear as we proceed.
Chapter 12 is written primarily from a heavenly perspective. It introduces the Woman crowned with stars who represents Israel and gives birth to Christ. In this chapter, Satan who is cast down proceeds to make war on the Woman. The Woman is protected, so Satan makes war on Christians instead. The events described here stretch from the midpoint of Daniel’s Seventieth Week to its end.
In chapter 13, the Antichrist is revealed. His reign implements the persecution and killing of many millions of Christians in what is known as the Great Tribulation. The Antichrist also institutes a “voluntary” individual identifier known as the Mark of the Beast. That mark permanently claims the person who receives it, both physically and spiritually, for Satan by tying him irrevocably to the Antichrist. No one will be able to function economically in the world without the mark, so the pressure to take the mark will be severe. Not all who refuse to take the mark are Christians or Jews. There are others, and like Christians and Jews, they also will be persecuted and many put to death. The Great Tribulation and the Antichrist’s rule start at the midpoint of the Seventieth Week and lasts 3 ½ years. This chapter, while covering the same timeframe as chapter 12, is seen primarily from an earthly perspective. It is, however, largely described in words and symbols more familiar in John’s time than in our own.
In chapter 14 we read about the death of the 144,000 faithful and what happens to those who take the Mark of the Beast. The events of this chapter are written mostly from a Heavenly perspective and happen at specific points after the midpoint that will become clear as we proceed.
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Chapter 12Chapters 12 and 13 are perhaps the most central in Revelation to understanding the events of the second half of the Seventieth Week and the reasons behind God’s Wrath. Chapter 12 introduces a lengthy (to 14:1) recapitulation, taking us back to before Christ’s first coming and then bringing us forward to the place where we left off before the appearance of the mighty angel with the little scroll in chapter 10. Nearly all the events of these chapters are seen from the viewpoint of the earth. Chapter 12 starts with the appearance of a sign in heaven:
Three times John is shown a sign in heaven:[1] the woman; the Dragon, Satan who persecutes her; and the seven angels with the final plagues who will inflict final punishment on the earth for those who collaborated with the Dragon to persecute the offspring of the woman.
The woman is most likely Israel. Some have seen her as the Church, but her giving birth to the Messiah[2] (instead of the other way around) makes this impossible. Others (particularly Roman Catholics) have seen her as the Virgin Mary, though this also cannot be supported. It is true that Mary is Christ’s mother, but the rest of the imagery associated with the woman does not fit. Believing Christians, called the “rest of her offspring”, are not the children of Mary. Even if we were to take a Roman Catholic interpretation of this and see Catholics as spiritual children of Mary, the image still does not work, partially because it mixes literal and spiritual children, and partially because it would be very difficult to understand how the literal Mary would need to flee into the wilderness to a place of protection for her spiritual children. We will later see that some of these offspring may be believing Jews. If so, it is impossible to see the Jews as either spiritual or physical offspring of Mary. The Roman Catholic desire to see Mary in this scripture is as poorly founded as some Protestant desires to see the Roman Church in the Whore of Babylon. The symbols given to John were symbols which made sense to him in his day, and both the image of Mary as queen of heaven and the Roman Church, garbed in cardinal red and seated on seven hills, are images of a later day. Though the sun, moon, and stars are repeatedly used to categorize the full natural panoply of heaven[3], they are equally used as signs of the end times.[4] It is far more likely that the association here goes back to Josephs’ dream.[5] In that dream, the sun stood for Abraham, the moon for his wife Sarah, and the eleven stars for his eleven brothers.[6] The victory wreath of twelve stars around her head are therefore the twelve patriarchs. Her clothing like the sun shows her righteousness, for Christ has told us “the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.”[7] The position of the moon beneath her feet, and indeed the use of the sun, moon, and stars as part of her display, may indicate their position as inferior to hers, which hearkens back to Joseph’s dream and shows the superiority of God’s people to inanimate creation.
The Dragon is Satan. His appearance, red with ten horns and seven crowned heads, will be discussed in chapter 13 in connection with the beast from the sea. When he first appears, though his appearance is satanic, his habitation is yet heaven. Throughout scripture, Satan still has access to the throne room of God,[8] and he makes use of that position to accuse believers of their sins before God. Satan started out as one of the Cherubim directly at the throne of God.[9] Since stars are sometimes angels in Revelation,[10] it is possible that Satan manages to drag one third of the angels down with him. Traditionally, it has been said that that fraction of the angelic host followed Satan in his rebellion. The one third echoes the several one-third judgments of chapters 8 and 9, particularly the fourth trumpet,[11] though exactly what that means is hard to say.
The male child is Jesus. This is most clearly shown by the statement he will rule the nations with an iron scepter, symbolizing the strength and power of his rule. Four times[12] scripture tells us the Messiah will rule the nations of the earth with a firm hand, symbolized by a rod or scepter of iron[13]. The Messiah as ruler is emphasized in the famous passage about him in Isaiah:
The child is snatched up in Christ’s Resurrection. The same word is used of believers at the Rapture.[14] Satan, of course, tried to devour Christ first through Herod killing the babies of Bethlehem,[15] then through tempting him in the desert,[16] and finally through Judas.[17] Christ’s resurrection defeated Satan at that time. Christ’s return will defeat him first for the thousand years of the Millennium and then, after his final rebellion, for all time and eternity. Satan’s killing Christ and Christ’s victory over him both in the Resurrection and in his return fulfill the first prophecy about Christ in scripture, that given in the Garden of Eden:
In this way, the woman in the heavens also looks back to Eve, for Christ is her offspring as well, both literally and as it fulfills this prophesy in Genesis. It is worth considering this verse a bit more closely. There are at least four individuals or groups in view here: the serpent (whom we know from verse 9 of this chapter is Satan), Eve, Satan’s offspring, and Eve’s offspring. It is likely that Eve’s offspring are both the specific (Christ) and the general (humanity). The church has always taken Christ as fulfilling the prophesy here that an offspring of Eve will crush the head of Satan but be wounded doing so.
Following that parallel, then, the “offspring” of Satan are probably also both general (those who are against God and his followers, or even against life itself, that is to say, participants in the world system in each generation) and specific (the Antichrist). Notice that the verse states that her offspring will crush your head (not your offspring’s head). That is because the real contest across time is that between God (in the form of Christ) and Satan.
The candidates for who the woman is (as mentioned above) are the literal Eve, the literal Mary, or Israel. It is very difficult to picture either Eve or Mary fleeing into the desert, but we know that Jerusalem will fall to the Antichrist at this time and that Christ warned the inhabitants of Judea (Luke 21:20) to flee to the mountains at this time. It therefore makes the most sense to see the woman as Israel and her children being Christ, believing Jews, and Christians.
The woman will be protected for three and a half years. There are five mentions in Revelation of a period of this length and as all five mentions refer to the same period of time, the woman fleeing into the wilderness coincides with the trampling of Jerusalem by the Gentiles.[18] If the woman is Israel and if her being in exile coincides with Jerusalem being trampled, it is most reasonable to believe she is in exile because Jerusalem is occupied by the Gentiles. Keep in mind that when John was shown these visions, Jerusalem was under Roman domination and had been under one form or another of Gentile domination since 586 or 587 B.C. The prophecy was given about 25 years after the city and the temple were burned by the Romans. Thus, for this prophecy to be fulfilled, the Jews had to regain control of Jerusalem at some date future to John. For this interpretation to be correct, there must be a gap of thousands of years between verses 5 and 6. This gap is precisely the same as the one between Daniel 9:26 and 27. It is also consistent with a gap in the applicability of Isaiah 9:6a. “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders.” The two halves of this verse apply to Christ’s first and second coming, respectively, the same gap as in Daniel and Revelation. The gap spans the Church Age of which the Old Testament is ignorant. If there is no gap, then it is impossible to find a satisfactory series of events to which this prophecy applies. In any event, there must be a gap, for more than sixty years had already passed from the Resurrection to when John was shown these visions of events yet to come. The woman flees the wrath of Satan into the desert where she will be protected from the power of Satan for the second half of Daniel’s Seventieth Week. Some have thought the place made ready for faithful Jews will be the city of Petra in the Jordanian desert, though there is little scriptural support for any specific location.
The mention here of the war in heaven supports the idea that the third of the “stars” that the dragon sweeps down are the angels that follow him. There are, however, substantial problems with these verses. If the narration here is anything like linear, the time clearly appears to be after the Resurrection of Christ, and indeed at the midpoint of the Seventieth Week. How is that to be reconciled with Christ seeing Satan hurled down[19] and Ezekiel[20] reporting he had already been thrown down?
Most likely, Satan’s expulsion has two parts. First, he is removed from his position as one of the guardian Cherubim but remains as the accuser of the righteous, and finally he is cast out entirely to lead his final revolt against God as part of the end times. These verses show the difficulty in equating heavenly time with earthly. In verse 9, the dragon and also the serpent of old (presumably the one in the Garden) is called Satan. Nowhere in the Old Testament is the serpent in the Garden called Satan. Readers of the Bible have to wait from the first book to the last for that to be clarified.
This gives support to this final expulsion from heaven taking place at the time of the end. These verses set it at the midpoint of the Seventieth Week.
It is very difficult to say what is meant by the two wings of a great eagle (though some have thought it might be some kind of airlift to help the inhabitants of Jerusalem escape the Antichrist). It is equally difficult to give a literal interpretation to the water spewed from Satan’s mouth or the earth’s swallowing the river. We do, however, have this flood referred to in Daniel in discussing the same period. In Daniel 9:26 Daniel says that “the people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood.” The water from Satan’s mouth (at the same time as the capture of the city) and the mysterious flood of Daniel are likely the same thing, whatever that may be. There is a passage in Isaiah that may clarify what the flood means:[21]
It seems likely, because of this comparison with Assyria, that it is the armies of the Antichrist that pursue the people of Jerusalem in vain.
It is worth pointing out that once before the Jews fled from those who would destroy them: the Egyptians in the time of Moses. And they were protected in the wilderness. Notice the parallels. The Jews flee from their oppressors and the land they control (Egypt under Pharaoh and Jerusalem under the Antichrist), they are pursued (Pharaoh and the dragon), and a natural-seeming event separates the Jews from their enemies (the Red Sea returning to its place and the earth swallowing the flood from the dragon’s mouth). These parallels give us a view of how the woman’s flight and the dragon’s frustrated pursuit may play out: the Jews flee from a Jerusalem surrounded by armies and are pursued by the soldiers of the Antichrist. Some sort of “natural” phenomenon (such as an earthquake that opens crevasses) occurs to delay and divert the pursuers until the fleeing Jews can be carried to safety. This parallel gives a good way of looking at how the events of the Last Days will play out from an earthly perspective. There are throughout history parallels, types, and other similar situations that show the effects on God’s people and the earth of events of heavenly or eternal importance. The time the woman will be taken care of is given as 1,260 days in verse 6 and a time, times, and half a time in verse 14. Throughout, the time period is 42 months of 30 days each. This has led some to refer to 30-day months as “prophetic months”. Nowhere does scripture refer to such a thing, but the equivalence of 1,260 days with the second half of Daniel’s Seventieth Week would seem to support making Daniel’s “week” equal to 2,520 days or 12x7 (84) 30-day months.[22]
Satan attempted to destroy Christ (the first mentioned of her offspring) and, having failed at that and now thrown down to the earth, he attempted to destroy those fleeing Jerusalem as it falls to the Antichrist. That fails as well so he goes after “the rest” of the woman’s offspring. Who are these? It is likely, though by no means certain, that there are two groups in view here (as we will see with the 144,000 and the Great Multitude),[23] the first is believing Jews and the second Christians. If that interpretation is correct, those who “obey God’s commandments” are the believing Jews and those who “hold to the testimony of Jesus” are Christians.
Nowadays it is very common, especially to those who hold a Dispensationalist view, to see Jews and Christians as completely separate groups. And while there may be good reasons for seeing them as separate, scripture is not so clear-cut. First, even if we take a late date for the writing of Revelation, the Church was still substantially Jewish when it was written. If the earlier dates are considered, it was primarily Jewish. Second, the Seventieth Week of Daniel (like the other sixty-nine) are decreed for the Jewish people and for Jerusalem. The Jews are more in view in Revelation (and in the events of the Last Days) than is commonly held by Christians today. If there are two groups here, Satan first goes after the Jews and then after the Christians. As with God’s blessings, so with Satan’s wrath: to the Jew first. This action of Satan’s starts the Great Tribulation which will result in the martyrdom of hundreds of millions of Jews and Christians and provoke the Wrath of God which will purify and reclaim the earth. |
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Chapter 13Chapter 13 is the center and the turning point of the entire book of Revelation. It reveals, both from a spiritual and an earthly perspective, the two beasts who together are the great enemies of Christ and his followers during the second half of Daniel’s Seventieth Week and charts much of their careers. Chapter 12 spoke of Satan turning from his pursuit of the woman clothed in stars to go after those who follow Christ. This chapter shows how that persecution begins and how it is carried out.
This chapter starts out with a problem: who is standing on the shore of the sea? There are well-attested alternate readings to this verse in Greek. The Textus Receptus reads “and I stood”, some texts read as here, “and he stood” (referring back to the dragon in chapter 12), while yet others read “And here” without saying who is on the sand. Thus, in the NIV it is Satan standing on the shore; with the alternative readings it is John, the angel, or perhaps no one.
The sea monster, a symbol for one of the beast kingdoms, Egypt,[1] is here called Rahab.[2] It will be (or has been) crushed by God.[3] The sea monster has many heads (Psalm 74:13-14) and will be destroyed by God in the Last Days (Isaiah 27:1). The sea serpent is Leviathan (except where Leviathan seems to be a whale), so Rahab and Leviathan are both types of this Last-Days beast. Three times it is made clear that earth and sea are in mortal peril. First, an angel with a loud voice stops the four angels who are to harm the earth and sea until God’s servants can be sealed.[4] Then, the mighty angel who gave John the little scroll which began this sequence of visions took his stand on the land and on the sea.[5] Finally, when Satan is cast down, another loud voice in heaven says, “Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you!"[6] Many times in scripture creation is divided into two parts (heaven and earth, where “earth” means all that is not heaven)[7] or three parts[8] (heaven, earth, and sea, where “earth” means dry land). Two beasts now come forth, one from the sea and one from the earth[9]. Most likely, they come forth because Satan summons them. Their actions certainly establish that they are his minions. Note that they come from two of the three parts of creation and that Satan has just been cast down from the third. Though never called any of these things, the beast from the sea is almost universally taken to be the “Antichrist”[10] spoken of in two of John’s letters,[11] the “ruler who will come” from Daniel 9,[12] and the “man of lawlessness” of 2 Thessalonians.[13] The symbols associated with him are among the most difficult to interpret in Revelation, since, as we shall see, they simultaneously stand for the man, his empire, and the empires throughout history which persecuted God’s people. There are five monsters mentioned individually in Revelation:[14] the dragon and four “beasts”. The dragon, as we have seen,[15] is Satan[16], particularly in his role as the persecutor of Jews[17] and Christians[18]. The other beasts all resemble Satan in various ways, showing they are his creatures. They are the killer of the two witnesses,[19] the pair from sea and earth,[20] and the mount of the Whore of Babylon[21]. The beast from the sea and the one who kills the two witnesses are the same. We will follow tradition and refer to him as the Antichrist. The Whore’s mount in chapter 17 represents the Antichrist’s empire rather than the man himself while the final beast is the False Prophet. It should also be noted how similar are the descriptions of the Dragon and the Antichrist. They are similar enough that one might be tempted to equate them, but there are reasons to reject doing so, primary among them is that the dragon appears to summon the beast from the sea. The correct interpretation is probably to see the Antichrist as a counterfeit incarnation of Satan, a perverse imitation of Jesus as God Incarnate. When the Antichrist first appeared (as the first horseman at the first seal), he was only a man. Now, called forth by Satan[22] and given authority over the nations of the world (which authority is Satan’s to give[23] and which he first offered to Christ[24]), he is fully possessed by the Dragon, operating according to his will, especially when it comes to persecuting God’s people. The first beast in chapter 13 and the mount of the Whore of Babylon in chapter 17 both so strongly resemble the Dragon because they do Satan’s bidding.[25]
Though the beast resembles Satan, he also resembles some of the beasts in Daniel chapter 7:
The first three beasts, resembling respectively, a lion, a bear, and a leopard, represent (most likely) Babylon, the Medes and the Persians, and the Greeks[27], and the fourth is the final kingdom of the Antichrist. The beast from the sea, therefore “resembles” the Greek empire of Antiochus Epiphanes IV, has feet like Persia, and a mouth like Babylon.
Whatever else these similarities mean, they put this beast from the sea squarely among the beast kingdoms of the past and very similar in symbolic description to the final beast in Daniel, the beast of the last days. We are currently at the mid-point of the Seventieth Week.[28] How are we to reconcile the fact that the Antichrist has been prominent on the world stage for three and a half years by now (at least since the signing of the seven-year treaty[29]) and we are only now seeing him emerge? There surely will be plenty of people at this time who suspect that this rapidly rising world leader is the prophesied Antichrist, though until now no one could be certain. At this point, three things happen in rapid succession that make it clear who this man is: he receives what appears to be a fatal wound, he recovers from it miraculously, and he takes his place in the temple of God, claiming to be God. The combination of those events will leave no doubt in the minds of anyone paying attention as to who he is.
Who gets this wound, what is it, and is it really fatal? Verse 3 states the wound is to one of the heads of the beast. If we are to take the Antichrist as one of those heads, it makes sense he is the one wounded. That would make the Beast from the sea both the Antichrist and anti-God rulers of similar kingdoms across the ages. This double use is employed in the mount of the Whore of Babylon so may be the most reasonable interpretation. This would mean that the “revealing” of the Antichrist – who, after all has been around at least 3½ years at this point – is symbolically shown here by having him identified as one of the heads of Antichrist kingdoms through the ages. A careful reading of verse 3 makes it clear that it is the head of the beast, not the head of the man that the beast head represents, that receives what seems to be a fatal wound. It therefore could be any kind of wound of the Antichrist that appears to be fatal, not necessarily to his head. Verse 14 of this chapter indicates it comes from a sword. Nothing stops this from being literal, but scripture can use “sword” generally to mean violence. See, for example, Matthew 10:34-36 where Christ says he comes to bring a sword and then lists oppositions and fights that are unlikely to all involve the use of a sword. Is the wound really fatal? Paul in 2 Thessalonians 2 calls the miracles of the Antichrist “counterfeit” and the text in Revelation only says that he “seemed” to have had a fatal wound. Later, however, verse 12 refers to the wound as “fatal”. Whether or not the wound really is fatal and the healing real, the people of the earth will believe them to be. We, as a society, no longer readily accept the miraculous, partially because science has adequately explained in non-miraculous fashion many things the ancients believed were the work of the gods. As a result, the healing of the death wound of the Antichrist will either be obviously miraculous (rather than merely not understood) or extraordinarily well faked. Whichever it is, the apparent “resurrection” of the Antichrist starts a new cycle of most people believing in the everyday presence of the supernatural. Neither the reason for nor the source of this wound is given, though some kind of assassination attempt seems probable. The wound and recovery seem to occur before the Antichrist takes his place in the temple, proclaims himself God, and demands worship.[30] Verse 3 says the “miraculous” healing causes people to follow him; verse 4 and following shows this turn to worship, probably indicating that the wound and recovery precede the self-proclamation of godhood and may form its basis, at least in the minds of many people. Here we see the revealing of the Antichrist from both a heavenly and an earthly perspective. We see him in association with Satan and with the beast kingdoms of the past (the heavenly perspective, reflected in his many-headed form) and in the following verses we see the same thing from the perspective of earth. In any event, after being “killed”, the Antichrist is “healed” by the power of Satan and thereafter is completely his creature. We see this symbolically in his appearance and close association with Satan. Second, in a direct attack on believing Jews, we see it more literally when he takes his place in the temple. At this point all speculation (at least among those paying attention) will end and the Antichrist will stand revealed. Until the “fatal” wound and the Abomination of Desolation we could not be certain the Seventieth Week had begun. This is the sign Christ told us to be on the lookout for.[31]
Notice that they worship both the beast and the dragon. The beast because he was resurrected and Satan because he was the apparent agent of that resurrection. The Antichrist himself is worshipping Satan because as Satan said to Christ “all this (the kingdoms of the earth) I will give you … if you will bow down and worship me.”[32] Christ resisted the temptation; the Antichrist does not.
In verse 5 the beast is given a mouth to utter “proud words”. The word translated as “proud words” is μεγάλα – megála which literally means “great things”. They will certainly be “proud”, but it is also likely they will indicate power and authority and inspire the peoples of earth. Since people in general are repulsed by naked pride, but greatness attracts them, it is likely that the Antichrist is given the ability, by Satan, to say and do “great things”. This authority, his blaspheming God and slandering the holy ones, and his ability to conquer the saints and exercise authority over all the earth, is for a period of forty-two months. As discussed elsewhere, this is co-terminus with the other periods of equal length in Revelation and is the second half of the Seventieth Week of Daniel. It is unlikely that the Antichrist knows that his period of power is so limited, but Satan knows he has but a short time.[33] Comparing these verses with Daniel 7 shows that the fourth beast of Daniel and the beast from the sea are the same. Daniel 7:25 says the fourth beast will “speak against the Most High and oppress his holy people”, while this beast “opened his mouth to blaspheme God” and “was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them”. Elsewhere we are told that the Antichrist persecutes God’s people for three and a half years and the holy people will be delivered into his (the final beast in Daniel 7) hands for “a time, times, and half a time”.[34] It is worth noting that in verse 6 the Antichrist blasphemes against God’s dwelling place (the real temple in heaven) and that from Daniel and Matthew we know he desecrates the temple in Jerusalem, the shadow of the real temple.[35] Men worship the dragon (Satan) because he has given authority to the beast. In verse 7 we are told that authority is over every tribe, people, language, and nation. They belong to Satan and authority over them is his to give. It is likely, given the juxtaposition of these verses, that people will realize that the Antichrist now has power over the whole world and that there is something spiritual about the source of that power. Anyone paying attention will hear his blasphemies and know that his spiritual authority isn’t from God.
Those whose names have not been written in the book of life will worship him, but not those belonging to Christ.
Verse 10 is somewhat problematic because the NIV mangles the Greek in attempting to make an uncertain passage clearer. As translated here, verse 10 appears to suggest a kind of fatalism to those who follow Christ: if you are going to be killed, you will be. If you are going to be taken captive, you will be. Your job is to patiently endure whatever happens and keep the faith. What the Greek really says, however, is “If anyone gathers (others) for captivity, into captivity he goes. “If anyone will kill with the sword, must he with the sword be killed. Here is the endurance and the faith of the saints.”[36] So translated, this echoes Christ’s word in the garden: he who lives by the sword,[37] dies by the sword. It is not teaching fatalism, it is telling the saints not to fight back. In doing so, they demonstrate both their endurance – no doubt of the persecutions – but also their faith in Christ. The difference is subtle but important. It does not say we must endure because we can do nothing about it. It says we are to endure to show our faith. Either way it is translated, it is clear we are not to fight back, at least not militarily. We are not even supposed to think it through too thoroughly. As Christ says in Matthew 10:19: “But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time, you will be given what to say”. Jeremiah has a strong parallel:
This echoes both the four horsemen of the apocalypse in chapter 6 (the Antichrist, the sword, famine, and plague), as well as the end of the armies of the Antichrist in chapter 19 where they are killed with the sword from Christ’s mouth and their bodies devoured by the birds.
Paul also saw the rise of the Antichrist:
The tight linkage between Satan and the Antichrist (seen both literally and symbolically in chapter 13 of Revelation) is stressed by Paul as well. Verses 9-11 support the idea that the “miracles” surrounding the Antichrist are phony, though the word translated here as “counterfeit” really means “lying”. Whether the signs and wonders are faked or not, they are for lying purposes by the father of lies.
This second beast is generally called “the False Prophet”, though Revelation doesn’t call him this until chapter 19. This beast has horns like a lamb but speaks like a dragon. In other words, he has the appearance of someone benign (possibly even Christ-like) but he speaks like Satan, meaning his words are lies, meant to work evil.
The false prophet performs powerful signs, including calling fire down from heaven. Unlike with the case of the wound of the Antichrist, nothing here indicates that these actions are fake. It says he is given the power to do the signs, presumably by Satan, which would indicate the signs are real, though whether real or not, they are there to deceive people and lead them from God. These signs, like the “resurrection” of the Antichrist, cause people to follow him and, through him, the Antichrist and Satan. He then orders the people of earth to set up an image of the Antichrist. Given all the evil that will come of that image, it is worth pointing out that we, ourselves, will set up the image. We will come back to the image and what it does in a moment, but first it is worth discussing the relationships among the dragon, the first beast, and the second beast. The traditional approach is to see here a counterfeit Trinity, with the dragon (Satan) in the place of the Father, the Antichrist in the place of Christ, and the False Prophet in the place of the Holy Spirit. Several things appear to support this interpretation. First, Satan, by demanding worship of the Antichrist and of mankind, attempts to put himself in the place of God. Ironically, he does this on earth just after being thrown down from heaven where he had tried to do that for real. Second, the Antichrist is obviously a false “Christ”, the worst and last of those, prophesied by Christ himself.[38] Finally, since prophets (at least legitimate ones) speak by the power of the Holy Spirit, it makes sense to therefore set the False Prophet as the false equivalent of the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, Christ himself says that the Holy Spirit will testify about Christ. He also says that he must die before the Holy Spirit will come,[39] and the False Prophet arises after the Antichrist “recovers” from his head wound. So far, the parallels are solid, but there is another possibility: that the False Prophet has more the role of St. Peter after the resurrection than of the Holy Spirit. Christ told Peter to feed his sheep, which has been taken to mean he was to shepherd the church. Christ had previously told Peter “you are Peter. On this rock I will build my church”.[40] Without getting into what this means as far as Catholics and Protestants are concerned, Peter was the first head of the church. The False Prophet sets up the worship of the Antichrist. Peter has the authority from Christ to build his church; the False Prophet exercised all the authority of the first beast on his behalf (verse 12). Whatever one thinks of calling Peter the “Vicar of Christ”, this certainly is the vicar of the Antichrist. Peter is told to lead people to Christ; the False Prophet forces people to worship the Antichrist. Whether the False Prophet is a parody of the Holy Spirit or of St. Peter, his powers – coming to him via the Antichrist but originating in Satan – will deceive those who are not God’s. They (and not the False Prophet himself) will construct the image of the beast and worship it. Man becomes the instrument of his own destruction and damnation. Even in the Last Days false idols are made by men and then worshiped by them. What is this “image of the beast” and where is it set up? Revelation, written after the temple on earth was destroyed,[41] never mentions the earthly temple. In particular, Revelation does not say that the Antichrist takes his place in it. Nevertheless, we know from Daniel[42] that the Antichrist will set up “an abomination that causes desolation” in the temple. The best interpretation is that this abomination that causes desolation is the image of the beast. If that image isn’t the prophesied “abomination”, it is hard to imagine what it would be. It is possible that Ezekiel tells us exactly where the image is set up:
Another possibility is mentioned in 1 Maccabees. Antiochus Epiphanes, successor to Alexander the Great and king of the Seleucid empire from 175 BC until 164 BC, is a type (see Glossary) of the Antichrist and carried out many (but not all) of the prophecies associated with the Antichrist. Greece, in the form of this empire, is one of the beast kingdoms of history. “Epiphanes” means “God made manifest”. Maccabees says:
1 Maccabees 1 uses the same language as Daniel and presumably took the setting up of the image of Zeus within the temple as the prophesied “abomination that causes desolation”, or at least a type of it. All this together indicates what Revelation does not say: the image of the Antichrist will be set up somewhere in the Last Days temple.
The False Prophet, in giving an inanimate object “breath”, that is the appearance of life and the ability to speak, demonstrates what to John would have seemed miraculous. While it is possible that the animation of the image will actually be miraculous, it is at least equally likely that this is another case where what would have seemed miraculous to previous generations – inanimate objects showing human traits – is ordinary engineering in ours. Which of these is the case – electronic or miraculous – cannot be said with certainty. But the miraculous is certainly possible, given that people are already worshipping Satan (verse 4). As with the “fatal” wound, whether real or counterfeit, people will believe the speaking of the image to be miraculous.
Now we come to the Great Tribulation where innumerable Christians will be killed because they refuse to worship the beast.
There is immediately a problem here: who is it that forces everyone to take a mark? The NIV translates ποιεῖ to mean “he forced”, but it just as well can be translated “it forced”. It therefore isn’t clear whether the False Prophet or the image does the forcing.
There are several things directly in view from verse 4 to here. The Antichrist is “miraculously” healed and receives authority, Satan and the Antichrist are worshipped, the Antichrist takes his place in the temple, an image of the beast is set up, people are forced to take the mark, and those who take it are damned. Most economically, these can all be seen as parts of the same thing – the establishment of Satan worship (whether direct or indirect through the worship of the Antichrist and of the image), the marking of those who so worship (as a parody of the seal of God), and the eternally fatal results of worshiping the beast and of taking the mark. The mark of the beast appears 7 times in Revelation.[43] What it means has been debated from the beginning along with how the number of his (the beast’s) name is to be interpreted. We will discuss that in a moment, but let’s first look at the consequences of taking and of not taking the mark. The mark is on a person’s right hand or on his forehead.[44] While this is clearly meant to be taken literally, the main point is that the mark is impossible to hide. It is prominent. And it is required to either buy or sell. Here is one of those places (there are many others) where prophecy in the Bible looks forward to a day very different from the times when the prophecy was written but manages to communicate both to the time when the prophecy was given and to future ages including, presumably, the time for which the prophecy was meant. The mark is needed to buy and sell. But this is a prophecy from a time when money was quite scarce and the primary means of exchange around the world was still barter. Under a barter system (or even under a physical monetary system) it is difficult to see how two people wanting to complete a transaction would be prevented from doing so simply because one of them didn’t have a particular tattoo. But when looked at from our day, were the mark tied in some way to a person’s electronic financial accounts, not having such a mark could make financial transactions impossible. Further, a tattoo can be easily faked; an implanted chip, say, that connects to the financial system, is a much harder proposition but even that is not immune to counterfeiting. It is very likely that the goods being sold, as well as the people doing the buying and selling, will be tracked. Businesses, exchanges, stores will find their abilities to conduct commerce without being a part of the Antichrist’s system nearly impossible. Even if someone with the mark wishes to provide aid to those without it, this tracking and presumed accountability will make that next to impossible. In short, the only way to survive without the mark will be through an underground economy, raids on food stores, and similar resistance tactics. Nonetheless, there will be those who do not take the mark. Believing Christians and Jews certainly, but there will likely be others. Revelation makes distinction between those with the mark and those without the seal of Christ.[45] The NIV translation of verse 17 is again weak. The Greek says, “… having the mark, the name of the beast, or the number of his name”, without, of course, there being any punctuation. It is therefore possible that there are three different categories of people given a mark, though what distinctions, if any, are intended are not at all clear. Whatever is meant, the person will be marked with the essence of the beast. Given the consequences of taking the mark, this seems true regardless of how one pictures the mark itself. The meaning of the number of the name and how one is to calculate the number is another matter. Entire forests have been felled to print books purporting to tell us who the Antichrist is from the way the letters of his name are turned into numbers. It may surprise the reader to know, but the authors have no more idea than anyone else what this calculation means. Another problem with 666 is that it may not be the original reading. It certainly isn’t the reading in the oldest manuscript extant today. Papyrus 115 from Oxyrhynchus in middle Egypt, dated to between 225 and 275 AD very clearly has the number as 616 as do other early manuscripts. Papyrus 115 is extremely fragmentary, and some have hypothesized that the word “or” that appears before the number was meant to indicate (there is a hole in the manuscript here) “666 or 616”. Jerome was aware of the two readings and corrected the most common Latin bible of his day from 616 to 666 when creating the Vulgate. Some (particularly Preterists who set both the events and writing of Revelation to the reign of Nero) see the emperor Nero in the numbers. There exists an Aramaic scroll from Wadi Murabba’at dated to early in Nero’s reign that refers to Nero by name and title: Nero Caesar. The Greek version of the name and title transliterates into Hebrew as Nron Qsr which, using gematria, calculates to 666. Curiously, the Latin version of the same name and title transliterate into Hebrew as Nro Qsr, which tallies to 616. The problem with either is that his name wasn’t “Nero Caesar”. It was “Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus” which doesn’t calculate out nearly so well.[46] Perhaps after the Antichrist is revealed the method of calculating 666 from his name will make sense, but until then attempts are probably futile. But other things regarding the mark remain to be investigated. The word used for mark is χάραγμα. The term was primarily used for imprinting coins or sealing documents but was also used for an imperial seal. While coins stamped with the emperor’s image were common and while some transactions might not have been possible without using properly stamped coinage, seeing in the mark of the beast as merely the image of the emperor on a coin is spurious for the obvious reason that neither forehead nor hand are in view in coinage. Far more persuasive is the use of the word χάραγμα for an imperial seal. Those who take the mark are “sealed” by Satan as a parody of the way Christians are sealed by God. The 144,000 are sealed by angels with the seal of the living God in Revelation 7:2-4, a sealing for glory. Here we see the sealing by the minister of the Antichrist (and, through him, of Satan) of beast worshippers for their destruction. The most important thing about the mark, therefore, is not that it is necessary for commerce; it is that taking it leads to damnation. There is a sin that leads to death, according to John.[47] In the case of Ananias and Sapphira[48] the death was physical, the result of testing the Spirit. Whether their death was also eternal is not stated in scripture. In Matthew 12:32 Christ says that “anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.” These two cases – lying to the Spirit and blasphemy against the Spirit are the only mentions of unforgivable sins except for the one before us, that is, taking the mark of the beast. Revelation 14:9-11 says that anyone who takes the mark will be damned. Putting all this together, the mark is a seal of a soul for Satan. It cannot be taken accidentally or without knowing the consequences (see chapter 14). The taking of it likely constitutes blasphemy against the Spirit since it is, like that blasphemy, an unforgivable sin. While the mark will be physical and tied to the ability to conduct commerce, it will also be an outward manifestation of an inward condition. |
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Chapter 14Chapter 14 continues the narrative from the end of Chapter 13. We are still during the period of the Great Tribulation. The exact timeline of events within this chapter are difficult to establish. The order of events is not that difficult since the events of this chapter are presented as a continuous sequence. Exactly when they take place within the last half of the Seventieth Week, however, is more difficult.
These are almost certainly the same 144,000 which were sealed in chapter 7. Their seal is Christ’s name and his father’s name on their foreheads. The plain reading is that they are virgins or celibate, though it is possible this means they did not prostitute themselves to the False Prophet’s religion.
The 144,000 are with Christ, standing on Mount Zion. At issue is whether this is the earthly or the heavenly Mount Zion. There are three alternative interpretations: 1) they are on earth and it is before Christ’s return, 2) they are on earth and it is after Christ’s return, or 3) they are on the heavenly Mount Zion. The first is impossible. If they are on the earthly Mount Zion and they are with Christ, it cannot be before his return. The second, though possible, is unlikely. First, if this is on earth, this is the first appearance of Christ on earth, and we know both from Zechariah[1] and from Acts,[2] that Christ will first appear on earth on the Mount of Olives.[i] This could be after that, of course, but since this would then be the first appearance of Christ on earth in Revelation, such an interpretation does great violence to the timeline. By far the most likely interpretation, given the songs which follow and the statement the 144,000 are “purchased from among men”,[3] is that they are in heaven. Hebrews[4] tells us the real Mount Zion is in heaven, and the association of earthly and heavenly things is very strong in Revelation, particularly with respect to the temple. The earthly Mount Zion, where the temple was located on earth, is but a shadow of the real Mount Zion which is in heaven. The heavenly Mount Zion is the site of God’s throne room. That passage in Hebrews possibly provides additional support that this is the heavenly Mount Zion: Hebrews tells us that those who have come to the heavenly Mount Zion have come to the “church of the firstborn” and Revelation calls the 144,000 the firstfruits to God.[5] Consistent with this interpretation is the next thing the 144,000 do - sing a new song before the throne. Since there is no indication of movement or change between their first appearing in this chapter and when they sing, their appearing must therefore also be in heaven. They are firstfruits, which is consistent with the palm branches[6] carried by the great multitude previously seen just after the 144,000 were originally introduced. Jeremiah calls Israel the firstfruits of God:
Interestingly, in Jeremiah Israel is following the Father. In Revelation the 144,000 are following Christ. This, at least peripherally, supports Christ being God and the 144,000 being Jews.
If, as seems likely, they are dead, it means the 144,000 have been martyred by the Antichrist. Note that all of them are with Christ, none has been lost. All who are sealed in Christ stay that way. It is probable that the 144,000 are the first to fall to the Antichrist. After falling to earth, Satan starts out attacking Israel and only after that fails does he go after Christians.[7] Calling them “firstfruits” would support this and would put the timeline at just after the Antichrist takes over Jerusalem shortly after the midpoint in the seven-year period. Whether or not they are the “firstfruits” of those killed by the Antichrist, they can be seen as the firstfruits of redeemed Israel. The rest of Israel will not be fully redeemed until Christ’s return.[8] So how might this look to those living on the earth? As is often the case, things look very different when seen from an earthly versus a heavenly perspective. Here, we see the 144,000 in glory, standing with their lord. But on earth they are dead, victims of the Antichrist’s first persecutions, likely taking place as or shortly after he gains control of Jerusalem. What looks like a victory for evil on earth is an introduction into glory in heaven. One further thing should be said about the 144,000. Some have said they are missionaries preaching to the people of the last days. This interpretation is of course possible, but it is highly unlikely. As discussed above, the most logical explanation of who the 144,000 are in this chapter is dead believers in Christ. Since it is likely that this scene in heaven takes place shortly after the midpoint of the tribulation, they are no longer on earth during the period where missionaries would be most needed.
Three angels now appear, flying in mid-air and issuing God’s final warnings to mankind. This echoes the three Woes[9] announced by a flying eagle. This chapter fits in chronologically with 13, covering the time from the conquest of Jerusalem by the Antichrist to the start of the plagues. But where each of the three angels fits into the timeline is the difficulty mentioned above. What follows is, to the best of the authors’ abilities, what appears to be the most consistent, though it is by no means the only possible interpretation.
The proclamation of the Gospel to all nations is a necessary precursor to Christ’s return.[10] This angel’s proclamation of the Gospel ensures that Christ’s prophecy is fulfilled and would make little sense if repentance and turning toward God were not still possible. This consideration helps set the time of the proclamation as just before or immediately after the institution of the mark of the beast, which is itself just past the mid-point of the Seventieth Week. We are at the start of the Great Tribulation where all who fail to take the mark will be persecuted by the Beast and False Prophet, and many will be killed. The phrase “the hour of his judgment has come” is therefore annunciatory.[11] What is current is the start of the final persecution that will usher in God’s judgment. This interpretation (that all three angels speak at the start of the Great Tribulation and that their proclamations are annunciatory) provides a consistent (if still uncertain) interpretation of the timing. John calls the first messenger “another” angel to distinguish him both from the “mighty angel” whose little scroll introduced this series of visions and from all the other angels in previous chapters. The appearance of the 144,000 and the messages of the three angels refer to the four religions of the last days: Judaism, Christianity, the Satan worship of the Antichrist and the False prophet,[12] and the secular-religious prostitution associated with the Whore of Babylon.[13] The first angel calls on all to worship God, the creator of the universe. In distinguishing God from the gods of the nations, the Israelites were always careful to state they worshiped the creator God. At this occurrence, creation is represented by a four-fold division of heavens, earth, sea, and fresh water. Note that, except for the heavens coming first instead of last, these are exactly the victims of the first four trumpets in chapter 8 and the first four plagues in chapter 16 and is doubtless meant to show that all of creation is involved in the trumpets and plagues and that, ultimately, they all belong to God.
This proclamation of the collapse of the religious and political system surrounding the Whore of Babylon is what makes the timeline of this chapter difficult. If it is a statement of current or recently past events, then it must take place at the end of the Great Tribulation, just before Christ’s return. If, on the other hand, it is annunciatory, then placing it near the start of the Great Tribulation makes it the same kind of statement as the first angel’s proclamation of the hour of God’s judgment. Making this annunciatory seems, to the authors, the more reasonable interpretation. We choose to put it near the start of the Great Tribulation for another reason as well. The identical proclamation of chapter 18[14] is clearly announcing something about to happen (but not yet happening) because after that announcement another voice from heaven[15] calls on believers to come out of Babylon to escape her judgment which must therefore still be future.
This current verse is the first mention of Babylon in Revelation. When we get to chapter 17, we will discuss the Whore in greater detail, but for now it is sufficient to point out that the prevalence of prostitution as a symbol of false religion throughout the Bible makes it highly probable a false religion is in view whenever the Whore is mentioned. Isaiah saw much the same thing:
Note that the system that is Babylon will fall, but there is here no mention of those people who are within it. This is in direct contrast to the third angel’s message, where the eternal damnation of those who take the mark is promised. The reason for this will be seen in chapter 18: some of God’s people are within that system, and they will be called out to salvation.[16]
This pronouncement by the third angel is almost certainly annunciatory, supporting the idea that the second is as well. As mentioned above, the third religion in Revelation is Beast/Satan worship. It is probably instructive that the parallel verse in Isaiah says that in the fall of Babylon, all the images of its gods lie shattered on the ground and this angel immediately thereafter speaks of the image of the false “god” whose worship is commanded by the False Prophet.
Here it is made clear that those who worship[17] the beast will both receive the full brunt of God’s fury on earth and will be punished eternally in the Lake of Fire. Note that the smoke of the destruction of the Whore goes up forever after her destruction,[18] and the smoke of the torment of those who worship the beast does as well. This is the fate of everything that stands ultimately in opposition to God. It is worth noting that scripture says the “smoke” of the destruction of the Whore and the “torment” of those who worship the beast. The Whore, not being a person, is destroyed while the beast worshippers continue to exist. It also is important to note that those who take the mark “will drink of the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath”. The Wrath of God takes place from the start of the persecutions until Christ’s return, intensifying with the passage of time and culminating in the bowl (plague) judgments of chapter 16. The fury of God is the bowl judgments which are included within the Wrath. Whether or not the second and third angels’ proclamations are annunciatory (and therefore at or just before the establishment of the mark of the beast) or are statements of events as they happen, they are in the correct time order. Babylon falls first and then, at the Last Judgment, those with the mark are cast into the Lake of Fire. John sees three angels making these proclamations, but it is not clear what the inhabitants of earth see. There are three proclamations made in quick succession: the preaching of the Gospel in all the earth, the proclamation of the fall of Babylon, and the warning not to take the mark. It is, of course, possible that the inhabitants of the earth will see the angels, but more likely is that the first and third proclamations at least will be made by God’s people on earth and possibly by the two witnesses[19] (who will also be calling down the trumpet judgments). This is the last moment for salvation for many people. While those who do not take the mark (and survive not doing so) are able to accept Christ while they live, those who take the mark and worship the image of the beast are lost. Several times in scripture we are told to watch for the revealing of the Antichrist. That revealing will be when he recovers from a would-be death wound and takes his stand in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God. Before that (particularly when the seven-year treaty is made), many will strongly suspect that the world leader rising so rapidly is the Antichrist, but not until he is directly revealed will those watching know for sure. That certainly will prompt those who follow Christ to proclaim the gospel afresh and to warn their neighbors of the coming mark and the consequences of taking it.[20] While the first and third proclamations are likely carried out on earth by Christians, the second proclamation is very different. The whore of Babylon has two linked meanings in the last days – the false religion of final Antichrist kingdom and, represented for the eighth time by that kingdom, the whole anti-God satanic system of beast kingdoms through the ages and their associated anti-God “religions”. The period of the trumpets and, most especially, the period of the plagues brings about the ultimate[21] destruction of the beast system as well as its manifestation in the Seventieth Week. What will be seen on earth of the fall of Babylon? Most likely, as with other judgments of God, the destruction of Babylon will proceed in stages. Once he has ultimate power (at the middle of the Seventieth Week), the Antichrist will have no further need for support from the pagan world system – he is the only god he needs, and all political power is now his. It seems likely he will turn on the system that brought him to power, possibly to use its resources at the last battle. The trumpets and then the final plagues complete the destruction that, perhaps, he initiates. In the third announcement come two verses, 10 and 11, that are among the most difficult verses in the Bible. They are not difficult so much because they point to eternal damnation, which is hard enough, but because they specifically state that those who take the mark are tortured,[22] and, even harder, in the presence of Christ and his angels. Our age is not fond of retribution - that sins unrepented carry eternal penalties. Isaiah does have a prophecy concerning the fate of Edom which speaks of a destruction that occurs in a finite time but from which the smoke rises forever:
This prophecy is discussed in greater detail in chapter 19. It is more likely that the parallel is between Edom and the Whore, rather than between Edom and those who take the mark, since like the Whore, Edom is not a person.
Using the root meaning of testing for “basanizo” is pretty thin stuff to try to show that anything other than eternal punishment is meant here. Like it or not, these verses warn of a literal eternal punishment for those who take the mark. Perhaps placing this angelic proclamation around the time of the establishment of beast worship and assuming that, as is the case with the angel proclaiming the fall of Babylon, what is seen in heaven is acted out on earth,[23] means that it will be made very clear beforehand what the consequences of taking the mark are. In any event, because of this angel’s work (or of Christians playing out the angel’s proclamation on earth), there will be a universal knowledge of the consequences of taking the mark.
Why does saying that those who take the mark will be eternally punished call for patient endurance on the part of the saints? It isn’t the warning that needs enduring – it is the consequences of not taking the mark, which for very many will be martyrdom. This echoes Peter’s words:[24]
Those who die in the persecutions of the Antichrist will then be forever out of the reach of evil, and of the horrors of the Wrath of God which are coming onto the earth.
Chapter 13 had almost the same statement applied at the same time – the time of the Antichrist’s rule:
This earlier verse makes it clearer that the “patient endurance” is of the persecutions and depredations of the Antichrist. This, and the words “from now on” help set the current proclamation at the start, not the end of the Great Tribulation.
The chapter that started with the appearance with Christ of the 144,000 Jews (also killed by the Antichrist) now refers to the other set of Christ’s followers, Christian gentile believers. Three times the two groups are referred to distinctly but linked together in Revelation: the two sets of descendants of the woman clothed in stars (chapter 12),[25] and the 144,000 and the Great Multitude (both here and in Revelation 7). These two groups may also be in view in the “other sheep that are not of this sheep fold (John 10:16). Some have taken verse 13 to read “Blessed from now on (that is, the moment of their deaths) are those who die in the Lord.” While it is certainly true that those who die in the Lord at any time and in any age are blessed, this reading is spurious. It is far more likely that both the escape from further horrors and the special blessings and rewards which accompany martyrdom are in view. Those who die from now on will primarily die martyrs from the persecutions of the beast. They are especially blessed. We now come to the beginnings of the Wrath of God. Mentioning it immediately after the deaths of the martyrs under the Antichrist are alluded to is appropriate since the proximate reason for the Wrath of God is retribution for the martyrdoms of all the saints (as was promised to the martyred souls under the altar).[26] The persecutions of the Great Tribulation fill up of their number.
There are two possibilities for who this individual is: Christ or an angel. We will analyze this in more detail after we review the verses that follow.
Showing us when all this takes place is a parallel scripture from Joel where there are also sickles swung and grapes gathered in a setting clearly tying them to the Wrath of God and the end of the age:
There are four individuals in the verses from Revelation, in roughly parallel pairs. The first pair comprise the one like a son of man with a sickle and the angel from the temple giving orders, while the second pair is the angel who comes from the temple carrying a sickle and the angel from the altar giving orders.
Three of the four are clearly angels. The use of the term “like a son of man” makes the identity of the first one less certain. The messianic use of the term Son of Man,[ii] which Christ used many times to describe himself[27] has its origin in Daniel, where Daniel saw Christ at his Second Coming:
The use of this term is suggestive that the first harvester is Christ because of these messianic associations. But many times in scripture the term is also used to refer either to a man or to one who looks like a man.[28] We therefore cannot say from immediate context whether Christ is meant. In a moment, however, we will cite a verse that makes it definitive that it is an angel.
Exactly what is happening here and how it is manifested on earth are somewhat difficult to determine. The groupings of the individuals into two sets makes it seem there are two separate harvestings. There are several scriptures worth comparing with this one. The first comes from Matthew chapter 13. That chapter has several parables dealing with planting and harvesting and the end of the age. In the parable of the weeds and wheat, the owner of the farm tells his workers not to pull up the weeds as they are sprouting, lest the wheat also be destroyed.
Note that in verse 41 Christ says the harvesters are angels. This seems a solid reason to believe the one like a son of man in Revelation is not Christ but an angel.
At first glance there appear to be two harvestings here in Matthew as well, first of the tares and then of the wheat. But on closer reading that interpretation falls apart. This scripture, like all parables, is extremely compact and a lot is covered in a few words. Note that the harvest (singular) is “the end of the age”. All the events of the last half of the Seventieth Week and after are covered by the word “harvest”. A few verses on in Matthew comes the parable of the net:
Here the good fish are collected and separated and then the bad are thrown by the angels into the fire. Since they are mentioned in both orders, it seems best to interpret this as a single catch and the previous Matthew parable as a single harvest with no specified order to what happens to the righteous and the wicked. Further, since the wicked end up in the fire, all this seems to point more to the Last Judgment than to events during the Great Tribulation.
Another possible interpretation of Revelation 14:15-19 is that the first harvest, carried out by Christ, is the Rapture while the second is the harvest of the evil to wrath. If the Rapture occurs in Revelation, this the first place it could occur.[29] Christ, in the Olivet Discourse, says:
The gathering of the elect in Matthew seems almost certainly to refer to the Rapture, but it is unlikely that the Rapture is in view in these scriptures in Revelation. Both references to a harvest refer to harvests of the earth, and neither are for eternal punishment or reward – that comes later at the Last Judgment and its associated events. It is clear what happens on earth in the case of the second harvest. It is the start of the bowl (plague) judgments. But what is the first harvest? It seems likely that it is, in some way, a “harvest” of the righteous (and therefore a contrast with the harvesting to wrath). There are two possibilities that immediately come to mind from other places in Revelation. The first is that it is the removal (through martyrdom) of the Great Multitude. When they first appeared in Revelation chapter 7, the Great Multitude were in association with the 144,000, though at that point the 144,000 were alive and being sealed with the seal of Christ, while the Great Multitude was already dead. That death has already been referred to in this current chapter (Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on).
The clue to solving this apparent conflict of timing of events between the these two may lie in another verse in Revelation, Revelation 18:4:
If the second harvest in chapter 14 is the plague judgments that are about to hit the earth, then this would appear to be the calling out of the those who are God’s from the Babylon system. It is true that the first harvest refers to “the earth”, but so does the second. The plagues are aimed at Babylon (see Revelation 18:4) but hit the entire earth.
There are two things that take place between the institution of the mark and the destruction of Babylon: the death of the Great Multitude during the persecutions of the Antichrist and the calling of believers out of Babylon. It seems most likely that the first harvest, carried out by the one like a Son of Man, refers to one of these. Either are appropriate for the placement in the timeline. There are several problems, however, with equating the first harvest with either of them. If it doesn’t refer to the actual deaths of believers during the persecutions (mentioned as about to begin by the voice from heaven in verse 13), then the taking place of those deaths, the proximate cause of the Wrath of God and particularly of his fury, isn’t seen in this chapter. On the one hand, if it does refer to them, it must be admitted that that looks a great deal more like a harvest than a calling out of Babylon does. On the other hand, it means that the angel, operating on orders from the throne of God, is responsible for their deaths and not the Antichrist. The other alternative, that it is the call out of Babylon[30], fits the timeline well, but does not look much like a harvest if all that happens is that they flee as those are warned to flee in Matthew 24.[31] There is a possible, though still problematic solution: the calling out of Babylon and the deaths of the Great Multitude are the same thing. We have already been told by the voice from heaven that those who die in the Lord during these persecutions are blessed and that they will rest from their labors. Isaiah 57 starts with two relevant verses:
This parallels the text in Revelation 18:4: There, believers are called out “so that you will not receive any of her plagues”. Putting these verses from Isaiah with Revelation 18:4 and the current verses, it may be that those who die in the great persecution are, from a heavenly perspective, “taken away” to be spared from evil, even though from an earthly perspective they are killed. If the righteous and the devout are killed to save them from evil, might not the call out of Babylon be same? Certainly the killing of the Great Multitude looks more like a harvest and continues the parallelism of first the 144,000 Jews and then a great multitude of believers of all nations that started in chapter 7.
Further, perhaps, hinting at this equivalence is that though Babylon is the direct target of the Wrath of God, verse 18, the second harvest and the grapes of wrath, refers to the entire earth. If the plagues of Babylon hit the entire earth, where can the believers go to escape them if not out of the earth entirely? All of the above interpretations are certainly problematic, but the scripture in Isaiah makes it clear that the death of believers can be an act of God for their own good (whatever the actual mechanism of it taking place), as does Psalm 116:15: precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his faithful servants. With the action of the angels in verses 17-19, we are on more solid ground. The angel in verse 18 comes from the altar to announce the harvest of the evil. In Revelation chapter 6 the fifth seal[32] the souls of the martyrs were under the altar and were told to wait a little while until the number of the martyrs should be filled up and then their deaths would be avenged. With the first harvest we see the number of the blessed martyrs completed. With the second, we see the retribution ordered. The next verses announce the promised retribution. The events of this harvest of the evil will occupy the next few chapters of Revelation. Revelation designates this period “the fury of God”,[33] or “the fury of the wrath of God”.[34] Since the Wrath of God is retribution for the blood of the martyrs,[35] and since we know it won’t start until their full number has been completed,[36] it seems likely that the seven years of the Seventieth Week are now ended. Daniel[37] indicates that the establishment of the abomination of desolation takes place in the middle of the Seventieth Week. The Antichrist must be in charge for this to take place, giving us the latest possible start for his reign. Both Daniel[38] and John[39] say that the persecution of God’s people by the Antichrist will last for 3 1/2 years[iii] and John indicates[40] that that persecution is coterminous with his reign. Since the persecutions have ended, it therefore seems likely that, effectively, so has his reign. We are now caught up with where we were when the seventh trumpet sounded and “the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever.”[41] We are therefore at the end of the 1260 days of the Antichrist’s reign and about to start the period of the final plagues. Daniel said the final distress would last 1,290 days,[42] so it is possible that within the extra month are the plagues. The rapidity with which they are administered supports the idea that they happen over a short period of time. Since they are, unlike previously in Revelation, complete rather than partial judgments, were they to continue for long, it is likely no flesh would survive.[43]
These verses echo several similar scriptures throughout the Old Testament. Isaiah, speaking of the conquests of the king of Assyria (one of the beast kingdoms – see chapter 17) says in a passage we have cited before:[44]
Horses’ bridles are about neck high, and the distance from Damascus (which Isaiah is discussing) through the length of Judah is roughly 185 miles, or 1,600 stadia.
Jeremiah, speaking of historical Babylon, speaks of the wine of God’s wrath and the associated slaughter:
Isaiah, speaking of a time where Jerusalem’s grain will never again be given “as food for your enemies and never again will foreigners drink the new wine for which you have toiled”,[45] tells of the coming savior whose “reward is with him and [whose] recompense accompanies him”:[46]
The context puts this also at the time of God’s Wrath. This scripture in chapter 63 is related to the one previously quoted in chapter 34 about Edom:
The word “Bozrah” means “sheepfold” and it sometimes translated that way, but there was a town in Edom, southeast of the Dead Sea, of that name (modern Busaira in Jordan). It seems likely that Edom was meant literally in Isaiah but was also a type of the last-days Wrath of God. The final phase of that wrath begins in Revelation chapter 15 with the first of the seven last plagues.
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