Sometimes we face things in life that humble us a little.  Paul had a thorn in his flesh that he appropriately looked at as a humbling part of his life (II Corinthians 12:7).  However, there are those people who will not show humility for anything or even anyone.  These people will not even humble themselves for God.

Solomon wrote an inspired statement about humility saying: “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18).  We need to learn that pride will cause us to fall.  Being a Christian is about following the Lord and seeking to obey Him in every area of our lives.  Thus, when we seek to know what pleases God we must go to His word and find what He desires on any given subject matter.  It just so happens to be that God has been very clear on the subject matter of pride.  Through the pen of Solomon God expressed that He hates pride (Proverbs 8:13).  The Lord hates pride!  Why would anyone that claims to be a servant of the Most High God think that their pride will be overlooked?  One just has to completely ignore Scriptures like the following to come to the conclusion that pride is acceptable to God: “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time” (I Peter 5:6).

Pride, like other sins, comes from the heart of man and defiles man.  That is what Jesus taught: “And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man.  For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man” (Mark 7:20-23).  Pride does not come from someone who lives a godly life.  Pride comes not from God, but from the world (I John 2:16).  God does not desire for us to be proud.  Our Lord wants us to humble ourselves before His eyes.

Do we realize our role in life?  Do we realize that all that we do is done through the abilities that God has blessed us with?  The Psalmist said: “The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him” (Psalms 28:7).  Paul said: “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Philippians 4:13).  Do we have the mindset of the Psalmist and of Paul?  When we speak of God’s attributes and what He has and can do, we realize how small we are.  We must learn to exalt the Lord instead of ourselves.  We must know that glory goes to God for all things good (I Corinthians 10:31).  When we accomplish something great or small we must see that we do not take the credit that is due to our Father which is in Heaven.  This will truly help us to humble ourselves in the sight of God and keep from pride that would lead us to a fall.– B.A.Y.

Introduction Thoughts:

Satan is using the Roman Empire (beast # 1) and false prophets (beast # 2) to wage a war against those who “…keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ” (12:17).  The false prophet is aiding the Roman Empire by punishing those who refuse to bow to the Emperor.  Rome has the power to overcome the saints (13:7).  When things begin to look grim, one must realize that God will not lose and His people have Him on their side (Romans 8:31).  While we have seen doom for the saints in the past two chapters, we will now see God’s protection of His people and Judgment against Rome.

14:1 “And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written in their foreheads.”

• When we see the Lord (Lamb – 7:14; cf. 1:5) on Mount Zion we are seeing Him standing in His kingdom, the church (Hebrews 12:22-23).  As Joel says: “And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call” (Joel 2:32).
• Again, as we have seen earlier in our studies (7:1-8), we see the figurative number of 144,000.  Unlike our earlier study when they were on earth, we now see them with the Lord.  They now have the seal that the angel was wanting upon their foreheads (7:2).  This seal symbolizes protection against the wrath of God that will fall upon those marked as servants of Rome (cf. Revelation 3:10).
• The name of God is upon the minds of those who are saved (Romans 12:2 and Revelation 22:4), opposed to that of the beast (13:15-16).

• We read of singing a new song when Christ was able to remove the seven seals from the sealed book (5:8-9).
• Now, another time has arisen to rejoice and the singing John hears from Heaven is truly majestic.  They sung a new song that was only for the redeemed to sing.  Clearly, the damned would not want to sing a song of victory.

• Now, using imagery, John is describing the redeemed.  Those who want to make the 144,000 literal have true problems with the wording here.
• They are those who have not defiled themselves with women.  To understand this principle we must use some deductive reasoning.  First off, we know that you do not have to be a virgin to be saved (I Corinthians 7:1-3 and Hebrews 13:4).  Thus, we can be assured that this image is not literal.
• So, what does it (the imagery of male virgins) mean?  Well, both male and females are married to Christ (II Corinthians 11:2 and Ephesians 5:27).  Thus, these Christians who have been redeemed from Roman persecution are those whom have not defiled themselves by being joined to any pagan body of religion.  They have kept the temple [church] holy (I Corinthians 3:17).  When God’s people join to false gods they are committing spiritual adultery (Jeremiah 3:8).
• Next, we see that these redeemed individuals follow the Lord wherever He goes.  We know that this is not literal.  So, what does it mean?  Well, it means they follow in the footsteps of Christ, in other words, they follow His lead (I Peter 2:21).
• They are redeemed from among men.  Simply put, they were purchased by the blood of Christ from the world (Titus 2:13-14 and Revelation 1:5).
• Finally, they are the first fruits unto the Father and the Son.  Using an Old Testament phrase, these Christians served God and sacrificed their lives to Him (Matthew 16:24-26 and Romans 12:1).

• There was no sin in these individuals as they walked in the light and enjoyed the cleansing blood of the Lord (I John 1:7; cf. Matthew 5:48 and I John 1:9).

• The full Gospel (entire message of the Gospel) is not under discussion here.  The Gospel had been preached some 60 years prior to this Revelation from John.
• What is being held by the angel to be preached unto all men is a message of good news.  The message: Worship and fear God that created all things.  The necessity of this message appears to defeat the Roman doctrine of emperor worship.  Why?  Because, the hour of judgment is come.
• This message, while different in some respects, is very similar to what Paul preached to the people of Athens on Mars Hill because of their practices of idolatry (Acts 17:16; 22-32).

• Another angel appears and uses the words that Isaiah used at the fall of ancient Babylon (Isaiah 21:9).  John will reveal these same words later in our studies (18:2).  So, how is it that we are talking of Babylon when Rome is what we have been discussing?  According to Daniel’s prophesies (2:31-45 and 7:1-7) and our studies in chapter thirteen (13:1-2), Babylon had fallen long ago and Rome was fulfilling its spot in biblical prophesy.  Well, we will find that Babylon is simply being used as a figurative name for Rome (17:5ff.).
• In Revelation 17:1-2 we read that Rome caused the kings of the nations of the earth to commit fornication with her and the people of these nations have become drunk from the fruits of those sins.  This is what brings the wrath of God upon them.

• All that worship the beast (13:4) and wear the mark of the beast (13:15-17) shall face eternal punishment (Matthew 25:46).  The mark in the forehead or hand signifies that the followers of Rome had given their minds and works to the evil works of Rome and ultimately the Dragon (Satan).

• The endurance of the saints will be rewarded (I Peter 1:6-9 and Revelation 3:5).  Those who continue to obey the Lord will have blessings within the kingdom (Revelation 22:12-14).

• A time of harvest begins.  This, like other times in the Scriptures (Isaiah 13:1ff. and Matthew 24:1-34), is a day of judgment, not the Day of Judgment.  Here we find that Jesus is essentially separating the sealed as he promises protection for them (7:1-3; cf. 14:1).
• Jesus sits upon a cloud with a crown upon His head and a sickle in his hand.  The image is of Christ preparing to reap the harvest.  We know this is Jesus from the writings of Daniel (Daniel 7:13-14).  Jesus thrusts the sickle into the earth and the gathering of the fruit is done.  This first gathering, based upon the context, would seem to be the gathering of the righteous (Matthew 13:30).

• This will begin a prophesy of judgment against Rome as was discussed earlier in this chapter (14:8).

• Fruit is now going to be gathered from the earth, which is the kingdom of Satan (Luke 4:5-6, II Corinthians 4:3-4, and Revelation 13:2).  The good have already been gathered.  The grapes were fully ripe, indicating that wickedness had grown to a full state (Joel 3:13).
• The angel from the altar has power over fire and the angel out of the temple has the sickle.

• Now the angel of the temple does as instructed, thrusting his sickle into the earth.
• The vine of the earth [Satan being the vine and his followers the branches that bring forth evil fruit] is cast into the great winepress of the wrath of God (19:15).  In contrast to Christ being the vine and His disciples being the branches bringing forth good fruit (John 15:1-8), the fruit of the world is evil.

• This imagery displays the winepress of the wrath of God being beat down outside of the city and blood streaming as high as the horses mouths and for a length of 1600 furlongs [200 miles].
• No necessity is upon us to take this literal.  The figures [grapes referring to wicked Roman followers] are not literal.  The point is clear, the wrath of God has an enormous magnitude.

1. All Scripture quotations are from the King James Version unless otherwise noted.
2. Joseph H. Thayer, Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, (Reprint by Hendrickson, 2002, original copyright 1896).