Things to Come

chapter 14 revelation 14 so really the judgments that take place in the book of revelation can somewhat be summed up three ways you have the seal judgments you have the trumpet judgments both of which we've gone through so far and the last is going to be the bold judgments the bold judgments we'll get to in chapter 16 they'll be introduced to us in chapter 15 but between those sets of judgments there's always an interlude between the seals and the trumpets there was an interlude that took us up to heaven to to see praise that was laid out to god that we saw the martyred saints under the throne saying lord how long and now in between the trumpets and the bowls there's been this other interlude

chapters 11 12 13 and 14 are really kind of a big interlude where we see a space between these trumpets and bowls and he's done a fantastic job of showing us a little bit more in depth in the midst of this interlude some of the players that we'll see in this tribulation period in chapter 11 we saw the two witnesses the two witnesses that were given a specific commission for a specific amount of time and they could not be harmed until it was time and then we saw in chapter 12 we saw the war that took place a spiritual war but also a very real war that took place between the the dragon and michael and all of the angels in heaven and of course the attempt to kill the the male child and and we saw that

the dragon was cast down to the heaven and of course the attempt to kill the male child and the earth and all of these events that took place and then of course in chapter 13 we saw the beast and the false prophet the antichrist and his prophet how they would establish both an economic and a religious system political economic and religious system that would take place during that tribulational period and now as we come to chapter 14 he's going to begin to forecast the things that are going to come at the end as a matter of fact i've entitled revelation chapter 14 things to come because there's a handful of things that he sort of looks forward to he forecasts ahead to tell us about so there's about four things that we're going to look at tonight

and it's going to start off with the lamb and the 144 000 and so we pick up in chapter 14 verse 1 all of these events i believe are going to take place at the end of the tribulational period and then he'll go in depth into the judgment that will take place towards the end when he talks about the bowl judgments coming soon but we pick up in chapter 14 and we see that the lamb is going to verse 1 and this is what it says then i looked and behold the lamb was standing on mount zion and with him 144 000 having his name and the name of his father written on their foreheads and i heard a voice from heaven like the sound of many waters and like the like the sound of a loud thunder and the voice which i heard was like the sound of harpists

playing on their harps and they sang a new song before the throne the four living creatures and the elders and no one could learn the song except the 144 000 who had been purchased from the earth these are the ones who have not been defiled with women for they have kept themselves chased these are the ones who follow the lamb wherever he goes these have been purchased from among men as first fruits to god and to the lamb and no lie was found in their mouth they are blameless so he describes a scene that he sees but before we describe the things that he sees in the scene let's describe the location of the scene he tells us that this lamb and this 144 000 are seen on mount zion speaking of things that are

controversial where is this mount zion that's being mentioned well they're split about 50 50 jakie

lecture 19 15 he sees play out in this first set of verses actually takes place in heaven. Where is it? I don't know. It just says Mount Zion. I wish I could tell you more. I'm not sure I formed an opinion just yet. I lean towards on earth, but I don't know that I've done enough studying to form an opinion just yet. But let's talk about why it's important that we pay attention to where they are.

Well, these 144,000 are the ones that are the sealed of chapter seven. We'll talk about that a little bit more in just a moment. So if they're on Mount Zion on earth, it means that they have been preserved as God had said that they would through the tribulation. Remember we talked about what that seal meant, that they would be preserved and they are now standing victorious on Mount Zion with the lamb at the end of the tribulational period. And we see the victory of God. Now, if

this is in heaven, it means that they made it towards the end of the tribulation and their journey, their battle on earth was done. And they were killed for their faith and they have been victorious because they stood strong for their faith. Therefore they were martyred for their faith. Therefore they are standing with the lamb in heaven victorious. So whether this is taking place on earth and they're victorious

because God has preserved them or whether this is taking place in heaven and they have stood strong for their faith because God preserved them either way, this is a victorious scene. And can I just go ahead and say that that's kind of what's created for us in the new Testament is the understanding that if I live, it's Christ. But if I die, it's gain that no matter what it is for the believer in Jesus Christ, we're victorious. If we remain here, victory and more work to be done. If we

lose our lives for our faith victory, because we've stood strong and God's brought us home to be with him. Ultimately there's victory no matter what, for those of us that are believers in Jesus Christ. And so now that we know that it's on Mount Zion, but we have no clue where Mount Zion is. I looked and behold, the lamb was standing on Mount Zion. And of course, who is the lamb? Well,

the lamb is none other than Jesus Christ himself. As a matter of fact, I would venture to say most of our translations have the word lamb capitalized, even though it probably wasn't that way in the original Greek. But a lot of the translations do have that capitalized because it's none other than Jesus Christ himself, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. There he is standing on Mount Zion. And who is standing with him? And with him were the 144,000.

Again, Revelation chapter seven tells us about these 144,000. These are the sealed of God. Matter of fact, there was a, this was one of the interludes that took place is that there could be no harm brought to the earth until the 144,000 were sealed and they were sealed. Do you guys remember where they were sealed? They were sealed on their forehead. It's kind of interesting, isn't it?

Because where was the mark of the beast to be? It was to be either on the right hand or the, or the forehead. And these guys were sealed on their foreheads because the enemy is always, listen, he's always a counterfeit. He always counterfeits what God wants to do. And do you remember the, the mark that was supposed to go on the right hand or the forehead of, of those who would take the mark of the beast? It was the number of man.

Uh, let the, those who are discerning, take note that his number is 666. Well, what Mark was supposed to be on these 144,000. Well, it tells us right there, the name of his father and his own name are written on their foreheads. In other words, Jesus Christ and God, the father written right there upon their foreheads, not a counterfeit seal, the real thing, the true seal of the Holy spirit upon their foreheads.

And so there, these 144,000 are with the lamb victorious, on Mount Zion. And so what's the next thing that's seen? The next thing that's seen is this. I heard a voice from heaven, like the sound of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder. And the voice, which I heard was like the sound of a harpist playing the harp. Now, all of those descriptions of the voice that he hears should automatically cause you to go all the way back

to the beginning of the book of revelation. Do you remember who was described as having a voice like many waters? Well, this is God, the father. This is God, the father speaking from heaven. If they're on earth, uh, speaking from heaven. And it's the voice that John hears. You know what I think is kind of interesting. We're not told what the voice said. I've read through this a hundred times to make sure that I didn't miss something.

We're not told what the voice said. We're told exactly what it sounded like, but we're not told what he said. But the next scene that we see is this. It says, and they sang a new song before. Before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders, and no one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been purchased from the earth. And so as these guys are surrounding

the lamb, as these 144,000 faithful witnesses are surrounding the lamb in victory over everything that's taken place in the tribulation, what do they begin to do? The same thing we've seen everybody else do. They begin to work. They begin to worship God and they begin to worship the lamb. And isn't it interesting if they're on earth, I want to point something out to you. It says in verse three, and they sing a new

song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. Now that would indicate to us that whether they're in heaven or whether they're on earth, where does their worship immediately transport them to the very throne room of God? If you'll allow me, I'd like to draw a quick point of personal application here. There is nothing that will draw you near to the throne room of God, quite like spending time in worship. I got to tell you, the evening that we spent here a few weeks ago on a Wednesday evening,

first of all, it was the fastest hour. It goes way faster than when I'm talking, right? It was the fastest hour I've ever experienced, but the Holy Spirit truly moved through this place. I feel like I can say with certainty that there was a move of the Spirit going on here when we had that night of worship. Just nothing quite like taking time to worship the Lord, to take you directly to the throne room of

God. And I've mentioned it before, but I feel led to mention it again, that I do hope that the 30 minutes that we have before church service on Sunday morning or the 15 minutes that we take before our Wednesday evening church service is not the only, I do hope that's not the only time you take to worship the Lord. I hope that you take time to praise the Lord when it's just you and Him and that you truly sing to the Lord. As a matter of fact, don't worry about who's in the room next to you. You know, sing as loud as your

three-year-old sings at three in the morning when they've lost their toy, right? Like, I mean, get obnoxious about it, right? Just belt it out to Jesus because He loves to hear it. There's just nothing that takes us to the throne room of God quite like that. As a matter of fact, I think one of the greatest enemies that we face as believers in Jesus Christ is the enemy of busyness and the

enemy of distraction. The enemies that we face will tell us you don't have time to worship today. You don't, you don't have time to sit at the feet of Jesus and hopefully move into the throne room of Jesus because you're too busy. And all of the things that you have to do are way too important for you to take time to worship the Lord. I'm here to tell you right now, if you don't take time to worship the Lord in

private, you will never be able to worship the Lord in public because who you are when you're alone with Jesus is, who you will be when you're amongst people with Jesus. And so take that time because that's what this does to them as it ushers them directly into the throne room of God. And so it says they, they sing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. And listen, I want you to pay attention to something about this song. No one could learn this song

except the 144,000 who had been purchased from the earth. I don't remember if it was Chuck Smith or McGee that said this. It was one of the two. I lean towards it being Chuck, but I don't know. I read a lot of commentaries today. They pointed something out. So if you notice that there's different groups within the book of revelation and each of them has their own song. In the beginning, we saw the song

of the redeemed. That was what the church sang to Jesus. We saw the song of the martyrs. That was what the tribulation saints that had been martyred for their faith saying to Jesus. And now we have this group of 144,000 and they have their own song that they sing to Jesus. You know what that means? Again, let me bring a little personal application to this. It means

that God had a unique relationship with each of those different individuals, with each of those different groups. And can I go ahead and tell you that you have a song to sing to the Lord that nobody else has because you have a unique relationship with Jesus Christ that's different from anybody else. Because what God has done in your life is different than what he's done in anybody else's life. Sure, the stories may be similar. They'll have some of the same similar

points, but it's your story. It's your praise to God for what he's done in you because he's not dealt with you in the way that he's dealt with everybody else. He's dealt with you uniquely on your own, one-on-one, because that's the kind of personal God that we serve. They each had their own song in this 144,000. They sing this song to the Lord and no one can learn it except them, except this 144,000 who had been purchased

from the earth. Then he goes on to describe these 144,000 a little bit more. It says, These are the ones who have not been defiled with women, for they have kept themselves chaste. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They have been purchased from among men as the firstfruits to God and to the Lamb. They're first of all pure. There was a purity about this

group of 144,000. Not a perfection, but a purity about them. Probably purified, first of all, by the blood of the Lamb, but purified, second of all, because they live a sanctified life unto the Lord. They had decided that the things of earth did not mean anything to them. They were more focused on serving God in the way that he had called them to. They were very pure. The second thing I took note of about them

is that they followed the Lamb wherever he went. I think that's a great description for these 144,000. But can I say, I think that should be a great description for us. And can I say that's an odd play on words if you grew up in an agricultural society with shepherds? Because you know who people don't usually follow? Lambs. That would have been a statement that for anybody in that agricultural

society, they would have gone, follow the Lamb. Who follows the Lamb? Well, when it's the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world, what else are you going to do besides follow the Lamb? And then the third thing that I took note of about them is that these were the first fruits to God and to the Lamb. Now, when you read that phrase, first fruits, you should ask yourself,

what does that mean? The first fruits of what? Well, this 144,000, which I believe is the same group from Revelation chapter 7, we know are 12,000 from each of the 12 tribes of the nation of Israel, meaning that these 144,000 are all Jewish men. And if they are Jewish men, they are the first fruits. And what are they the first fruits of? Well, they're the first fruits of a

revival of the Jewish nation. They're the first fruits of a revival of the nation of Israel. And that's who they are. And he says, there's more to come. There's more coming of the nation of Israel. I love this last thing. It says that no lie was found in their mouth. They are blameless. Therefore, we know they're not politicians. Okay. Now, the next thing that we take note of is we see that

the angels and the God-givens are the first fruits of the revival of the Jewish nation of Israel. And so picking up in verse six, this is what it says.

The next thing that we see is angels preaching the gospel. Of course, the word gospel means good news. And that's exactly what they're preaching. It says, I saw another angel flying in mid heaven. Again, just picture an angel flying all the way across the sky, kind of like a crop duster, sort of a plane, right? It's flying in mid heaven across the sky. And this angel is

doing something. It says it's preaching to those who live on the earth and to every nation, tribe and tongue and people. And what's it preaching? It's preaching the message of the gospel. Fear God, give him glory because judgment has come. Worship him who made the heaven and the earth. Now, in Matthew chapter 24, as Jesus is laying out all of the things that are going to happen in

things that will take place, the things that will be, uh, the things that will accompany his coming, the signs of his coming, he lays out the signs that will take place until the second coming. And then he goes deeper into the time of the tribulation with the abomination of desolation. And then he goes into a time of tribulation and talks about it being worse than anyone has ever seen. And then he says something very interesting and the gospel will be preached everywhere before the coming of the Lord.

I believe that this angel coming to preach the gospel is exactly what Jesus is referring to because I believe that he's referring to something that will take place during the tribulational period. Now, why if God is pouring out his wrath upon the earth, is God sending an angel out to deliver the message of the gospel? You may notice that the, the actual message sounds different than what you and I might preach today. Today, we might preach you're a sinner. You're in need of a savior.

Here, he's just saying, fear God, you better turn to God now, right? Because there's not time to get into the details of it. It's just a turning of hearts to people. I believe it's a preparing of people for the millennial reign, a preparing of people for the millennial kingdom to try to reach as many people as possible. So why at this point in time, does he now send an angel out to do this?

Well, I think there's two reasons. Number one, because God is merciful because God is so merciful that even in the midst of his judgment, he is still giving every opportunity for people to be saved because mercy brothers and sisters is God's default. God's default setting is always mercy. It's always what he tends toward. It's his bent. But there's a second reason why I think he does this. And it's because God is

just, he will have no one say he did not give everyone a chance. There will be no one who can stand before God at the great white throne judgment. It'd be like, but I had no idea, right? No, I sent an angel throughout the entire world. Listen, speaking in every tribe, nation and tongue that you should turn to God because his judgment is coming. You should worship

him. The God who created the heavens and the earth and the seas and everything in them. The gospel is preached by this angel, but you know, there's a second angel that comes and preaches another gospel. A second aspect of the gospel knows what it says in verse eight and another angel, a second one. Followed him saying now I, I take when it says followed saying that he also is flying through

mid heaven, fallen, fallen is Babylon, the great she who has made all the nations drink of the wine to the passion of her immorality. Okay. So we have to ask ourselves who is Babylon, the great right? What's the Babylon that he's talking about here. So let's talk for just a minute about Babylon. Not very long. I almost spent a great deal of time on this, Babylon of course was a literal city at one point in time, uh, uh, a city that was one of the most

powerful kingdoms to ever rule the world. Uh, led first of all by Nebuchadnezzar, just an incredibly powerful kingdom that, that took over the known world at that point in time. Now we know that's not talking about that because Babylon fell as a city at one point in time, but there is a spirit of Babylon that kind of has always been. And can I say was even around before, the actual city of Babylon, I would actually tell you that the spirit of Babylon has actually been around since Nimrod, since the children, since, uh, the, the people of the earth tried to build the tower of Babel on the plane of Shinar, which is exactly where Babylon, the city was built. And do you remember what they did? Second week in a row, we've referenced tower

Babel. If you notice that, uh, do you notice what they did when they built that tower? We will build a tower into the heavens and we will make a name for it. Remember who they're going, make a name for ourselves. We will make a name for us and it will reach into the heavens. You remember what they sealed it with? They sealed it with pitch. Same thing. They sealed the arc with

why? Because it was their goal to not only protect themselves from the judgment of God, but to eventually destroy God. So what is this Babylon? The great that has fallen? Well, I think that the Babylon, the great speaks of a twofold thing. I think it speaks of a political system. And I think it speaks of a political system. And I think it speaks of a political

system. And I think it speaks of a religious system, both of which throw themselves in the face of God, both of which are opposed to God, a government that we will have without God and a religion that we will have without God. So when he says fallen, fallen is Babylon, the great, it's the greatest news anybody on earth could ever hear. Why? He goes on to explain because she has

made all the nations drink of the wine of the passion. Of her immorality. Can we just go ahead and say that with every evil system comes the evil of immorality with every evil religious system that doesn't have God at its heart. There is immorality that is always with it for every evil political system that doesn't have God at its heart. There is always immorality that accompanies it. He says, fallen, fallen is Babylon, the great.

And you can imagine that if there's any worshipers of God who have become, saints during the tribulation, there's like, because they're so tired of dealing with Babylon. They're so tired of dealing with this world's system of this world's political system of this world's religious system that continues to throw itself in our face. And so these angels come and they preach the gospel. The third thing that we see is the judgment of the beast worshipers, the judgment of the beast worshipers.

It says in verse nine, then I saw another angel, a third one followed them saying with a loud boy with a loud voice. If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of his anger. And he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of God. And in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the lamb and the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever. They have no rest day and night. Those who worship the beast

and his image and whoever receives the mark of his name. Here is the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. And I heard a voice from heaven saying, right? Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. Yes. As the spirit, so that they may rest from their labors for their deeds follow with them. So another third angel comes along. And as this third angel comes along,

it makes a proclamation. Anyone who worships the beast or takes this mark. Now we talked about this mark a little bit last week and we don't totally know what this mark is going to be. Will it be a chip that's put into someone's hand? Uh, will it be, um, I prefer the movies that came out in the seventies that actually show a tattoo of six, six, six going on someone's hand or forehead for artistry sake. I hope it has something like that involved

because that's exactly the movies that I always pictured it looking like whatever it is. This mark is not something that you and I are going to take. First of all, as the church, we won't be here when that takes place. But second of all, no one's going to accidentally take the mark. This is what I wanted to point out to us last week. When I said, Hey, listen, we need to realize what the mark is not. Okay. Uh, the mark is not a vaccine that

you can take. The mark is not a card that you're going to carry. It's not something that you're accidentally going to do because I want you to notice the words that are coupled together with the mark. It says, if anyone worships the beast and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, those two things will very much go hand in hand. There will be a deliberate purposeful

decision that's made for someone to take the mark. Which is why there will be decisive judgment that comes from God, because it will be a decisive turning against the things of God and turning towards the things of Satan. And as they do so, there will be an unalterable change that takes place that will cause God to have to bring judgment upon the earth. Because notice what it says. These are strong. This is strong language

that's used in verse 10 that says he will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength. And the cup of his anger. First of all, anytime we think of the cup, we think of God's wrath. Matter of fact, throughout scripture, multiple times, the word cup and wrath are used together. One of the most famous times that that's used is when Jesus was in the garden. He said, Lord,

if there's any way for this cup to pass for me, it was the wrath of God upon sin, right? Well, now this cup of wrath that people refused to accept that Jesus drank for them, they'll have to drink for themselves. He says, God's wrath is fully mixed. Now there's two different words that are used for wrath in the new Testament in the Greek language. One of them has to do with a settled state of God's

anger, like a, like a continual state of anger, right? Like most dads all the time have that wrathful look on their face because that's just what we do. We know things that look angry. That's the settled wrath of God, right? But this word speaks of an overflowing, passionate anger. In other words, someone speaks of God's wrath. And that's what we're talking about. We're talking about

the cup. And there is a passion of this anger that is poured out upon people. And then there's a another word that's used. It says mixed in full strength. The idea there is not diluted. Wine was never served in full strength at that point in time. It was always diluted with water. Only the barbarians drank wine that was in full strength. But the idea of this cup of the wrath is something

that is not diluted. It is at full strength. In other words, the wrath of God is coming with all of the passion of God. And it's got a full head of steam behind it. And that's what the people that have taken the mark are going to have to endure. He goes on to say, and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the lamb. I believe that there's a twofold thing that's going to take

place here. I think fire and brimstone is how he'll judge to an, to a, to an extent, kind of like Sodom and Gomorrah, which is what we think of when we think of fire and brimstone. But then we also think of the eternal nature of hell itself, that second death, because notice what he goes on to say. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever. And they have no rest day and night. Those who worship the beast and his image and

whoever receives the mark of his name. Listen, we have to understand something. We have to understand something about hell. It's forever. It's eternal. Charles Spurgeon famously said, I wish that my preachers could be dangled over the pit of hell for just 10 minutes because it would make them a fiery preacher against the very wrath of hell itself. It's because of the eternal nature that goes into

it. And I, and I bring that up because there is continually false doctrine that seems to circulate throughout the church that seems to think that hell is not eternal. And hell is not hot. How could a loving God send people to hell? Well, because when you deliberately step over the cross of Jesus Christ and choose your own way, what else can God do for you? If you won't accept the wrath that Jesus took upon himself, then God will have to pour

out that wrath upon you. But in the midst of that, I want you to notice, and I believe this is extemporaneous on the part of John. When John writes, here is the perseverance of the saints and their faith in Jesus Christ. So what do we do as saints? We continue to persevere and we keep the faith so that we don't end up in that same place. And then in verse 13, the Holy Spirit kind

of responds by saying, I heard a voice from heaven saying, right? Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. Yes, says the spirit so that they may rest from their labors for their deeds follow with them. It's kind of similar to how we started, right? Because for the, for the, for the believer in Jesus Christ, these tribulation saints that get saved, if they may get through the

tribulation, it's victory because God's preserved them. But if they die for their faith, it's victory because God's protected them and they're ceasing from their labors because they're resting forever in the arms of their savior. He goes on to describe one last thing. I've simply referred to it as the reaping. Notice what it says in verse 14. Then I looked and behold a white cloud and sitting on the cloud was one like a son of man

having a golden crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. And another angel came out of the temple, crying out with a loud voice to him who sat on the, on the cloud, put in your sickle and reap for the hour to reap has come because the harvest of the earth is ripe. Then he who sat on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth. And the earth was reaped. And another angel came out of the temple, which is in heaven.

And he also had a sharp sickle. Then another angel, the one who has power over fire came out of from the altar. He called with a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle saying, put in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth because her grapes are ripe. So the angel swung his sickle to the earth and gathered the clusters from the vine of the earth and through them into the great wine press of the wrath of God. The wine press was trodden out and was trodden

outside the city and blood came out from the wine press up to the horses bridles for a distance of 200 miles with this last scene. Amir Sirfati put it best in his book. This last scene would cost someone who loves a horror movie to sort of blush a little bit, maybe to close their eyes as they watch it. So this last scene, there's two different reapings that take place. It says, I looked and behold a white cloud. It

starts off so friendly, doesn't it? It starts off with a white cloud and one like a son of man sitting on a white cloud with a golden crown on his head and a sickle in his hand, right? That's when things went bad. He has a sickle in his head. So who is this son of man? Well, I believe it's none other than Jesus himself. He's wearing a golden crown. Interesting, isn't it? Because

the last time we saw Jesus wearing a crown, it was a crown of thorns, but now he's wearing a golden crown. Now there's again, two different crowns that are mentioned in the Greek language. One is the crown that a victor would wear, that they would receive in the games. The other is the diadem of a king. The Greek word for this one is actually a victor's crown. This is another reason

why I believe that it's Jesus, because what was Jesus victorious over? Death, right? Jesus is the victorious one. How did we see him in the beginning? With the 144,000. He was the lamb and he was standing with the 144,000 on Mount Zion. Victorious. And now he's sitting on this white cloud, all fluffy and sweet, wearing the crown of one who is victorious, because he's about to bring victory to the earth.

It says, and he had a sharp sickle in his hand. All of a sudden, the son of man just turned into the grim reaper, right? He's got this sickle in his hand. And as he's got the sickle in his hand, it says an angel came out of the temple. I believe it's the heavenly temple, crying out with a loud voice, to him who sat on the, on the cloud, put in your sickle and reap for the hour to reap has come

because the harvest is ripe. That word ripe literally means to be overripe. It actually can mean to be dry and withered. He says, put your sickle in because the harvest is ripe. It's actually past time. It's dry and withered. It's interesting because similar language is used by Jesus when he was sending out his disciples. Do you remember what he said? He says, the harvest is,

all the fields are already white for harvest. Pray that the Lord would send laborers into the harvest because the great is the harvest, but the laborers are few. Well, now it's a different kind of reaping that's taking place. Now it's time because it's ripe. It's past ripe. And so he puts in his sickle. Notice what it says. He who sat on the, on the cloud, verse 16, swung his sickle over the earth and the earth was reaped. So, so what does he

reap? The field is already white for harvest. Pray that the Lord would send laborers into the harvest because the first time is the question that I have. I don't know if you have that same question or not. What does he reap the first time? Well, one of the suggestions is that this is, first of all, speaking of the Gentiles being judged upon the earth. And that potentially could be, I tend to agree with Amir

Serfati. I have no idea. We don't really know. There's just a first reaping that takes place, some aspect of judgment that takes place. But then there's a second reaping that takes place. The first time it dealt with a dry and withered overripe harvest. This time, he's going to gather grapes and these grapes are plump and ready to be crushed by feet. Notice

what it says. And another angel came out of the temple, which is in heaven. He also had a sharp sickle. And then another angel, the one who has power over fire, came out from the altar and he called with a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle saying, put in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth because her grapes are ripe. Many people feel like this

speaks of the nation. Of Israel. It says, so he swung his sickle to the earth and gathered the clusters of the vine and threw them into the great wine press of the wrath of God. In other words, these grapes are gathered and they're thrown into this place that was a wine press. Now, I don't know if you know what takes place at a wine press. People get all up in their bare feet and whatnot. Who would drive

my daughter nuts? There's a thing with teenagers right now, at least my teenage daughter. She thinks it's weird for people to go without their socks to go barefoot. Oh man, she'd have a real hard time with a wine press. That's right. They'd get in there all barefoot and whatnot. They'd stomp all over the grapes. The juice from the grapes would flow out. That's the idea behind a wine press.

And as this, as these grapes are harvested and thrown into the wine press, notice what's the right wine press of the wrath of God. And then all of a sudden things get a little bit dark. It says in the wine press was trodden outside the city and the blood came out from the wine press up to the horse's bridles. For a distance of 200 miles. I want you to go with me a place in scripture really quickly.

Go over to the book of Isaiah chapter 63, because we find out who this one is trotting the wine press. Isaiah chapter 63. And I want you to look at verses one through six. Isaiah 63, one through six says this, who is this who comes from Eden or Edom with garments of glowing colors from Basra, the one who is majestic in his apparel, marching in the greatness of his strength.

It is I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save. Why is your apparel red and your garments like the one who treads in the wine press? They have trodden the wine trough alone. And from the peoples, there was no man with me. I also trod them in my anger and trampled them in my wrath and their lifeblood is sprinkled on my garments. And I stained all my raiment for the day of vengeance was in my heart. And my year of

redemption has come. And they looked and there was no one to help. And I was astonished and there was no one to uphold. So my own arm brought salvation to me, brought salvation to me. And my wrath upheld me. I trod down the peoples in my anger and made them drunk in my wrath. And I poured out their lifeblood on the earth. And if I had a piano player, right now, they'd go. This is an incredible statement on the wrath of God. Go back to

go back to Revelation. So who's the one trotting out the wine press? It's none other than the son of God. You see, the lamb that was slain is the God who will judge. He may have come as a sacrificial servant the first time, but he comes as the king who will rule and crush his enemies. The second time. And that's exactly what he does. I believe that this is a forecast of

the battle of Armageddon that we'll read about in chapter 16 and the blood that will flow from that battle. As we read sections like this, we can find ourselves taken aback at the wrath of God that gets poured out. There's two things I want to point out to you as we close up here tonight. Two things that I think that we take away from a chapter like this that seems to show what God's going to do at the end.

Because remember, this is the unveiling of Jesus. The one who ultimately is going to be the one whom judgment is given to. The one who will trot out the wine press. There's two things I want you to remember. Number one, keep your life pure before the Lord. As we are reminded that Jesus is the one who lays out this judgment, it should have a purifying effect upon our lives. Because as

we see the unveiling of Jesus, we're going to be the one who will trot out the wine press. It should cause all of us to say, Lord, may my life be pure before you. The second thing I want you to take note of is this. Everybody knows someone who doesn't know Jesus. And it's time to start telling them the truth. I was telling my wife this before church this evening. I said,

I don't know why, but I'm in a mood to not work. I'm in a mood to not worry about anybody's feelings anymore. I'm in a mood to offend some people. Because I just want to tell people the truth. Because as I'm watching what's going on in our world, and I'm seeing what's happening in our world, brothers and sisters, we don't have time to tiptoe around the tulips. We don't have time to tiptoe around the tree. It's time to get

serious. And it's time to speak the truth in love. In love, but to speak the truth. Because people need to know the truth right now. Just got done watching Jesus Revolution with my class. Me and all the girls were crying. But there's one line that always really sticks out to me about that movie. And it's when Kay and Chuck are sitting in the living room. And he said, man, it just seems like so many voices are so loud right now. And she said,

the truth is always quiet. He said, it feels so complicated. And she said, the truth is always simple. And you know what our world needs right now? We need some simple truth. Because people are tired of complicated. People are tired of lies. People are tired of all of the garbage that's going on in the world. And they want to hear the truth. Particularly the young

people in our world today. I was thinking about the fact that this Jesus Revolution happened amongst all the high school kids. I heard a report on the news today. They're working on a bill to ban social media or at least put some sort of governor on social media for kids under the age of 13. To where companies will actually be fined by the FCC if they allow anybody under the age of 13 to get on social media. And you know why? Because the suicide

rate among kids, the depression rate among kids is skyrocketing right now. It's horrific what's happening in our culture. And do you know what? Do you know what they said? And again, this is just me listening to talk radio today. Do you know what directly correlates with the rise in depression and suicide among teenagers? The introduction of the camera that looks back at you to where you can take the selfie. There's a direct correlation between 2012

when that was introduced and today. You know why? Because people started looking at themselves and going, I don't like what I see. And you know what all the kids in the world right now that don't like what they see need to hear? There's a Jesus who made you. And he loves what he sees. And they need to hear the truth. And the truth is always simple. Amen. Father, we come to you. And Lord, I praise you that you are one day going to deal

with all the things of this world. That Lord, all of the world's systems that we can get so frustrated with, Lord, eventually they're all going to fall. Because one day that angel is going to cruise through the heavens and say, fallen, fallen is Babylon the great. But Lord, in the meantime, would you help us to be about your business? Or would you help our lives to

be pure? And would you help us to take the truth of who you are to the people around us? Father, we praise you for who you are in Jesus name. Amen. Be blessed.