Revelation 14:6-20 Messages of the three angels.

SLIDE 1 Messages of the three angels. Revelation 14:6-20

READ Revelation 14:6 Then I saw another angel flying directly overhead, with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people.

Throughout the gospels followers of Christ are told to spread God's story.  A command from Jesus to spread his gospel is known as the Great Commission in Matthew 28. Until now no angel has been given this task. By now most of the Christians have been martyred and are removed from the earth. However God is merciful and will give one last chance to anyone who has not taken the mark of the beast. This would have to be people hiding from the antichrist and his regime.

SLIDE 2 Once they take the mark of the beast they cannot be redeemed from the earth.

READ Matthew 6:24"No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

 During the Tribulation, you can only have one mark. Man cannot serve God and the beast.

SLIDE 3 The first angel declares an eternal gospel message to every nation every tribe, language, and people.

READ Revelation 14:7-8 And he said with a loud voice, "Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come, and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water." ⁸Another angel, a second, followed, saying, "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who made all nations drink the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality."

This angel warns the people to fear God and to give glory to God instead of Antichrist. He must be talking to the faithful ones without the mark. Otherwise, he would be proclaiming a message of doom. The Greek word translated "gospel" literally means "good news." The only way we can offer people hope is to teach the eternal gospel-how to receive the Lord Jesus Christ by faith. A message concerning only the judgment of God offers no hope.

SLIDE 4 The Second Angel in verse eight tells us that Babylon has fallen with no details.

A religious Babylon, the false religious system, takes place in the middle of the Tribulation. “Babylon" is symbolic of the world and its evil system. We will see more on that in chapter 17. If the angel is speaking of the literal city of Babylon, destruction of this is revealed in chapter 16.

SLIDE 5 The third Angel says with a loud voice

READ Revelation 14:9-11 And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, "If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand,¹⁰he also will drink the wine of God's wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.

SLIDE 6 ¹¹And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name." The hour of God’s judgment has come.

The "fire and brimstone" here is the very same as that which destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. Just as the angels saw Sodom burn, they are a witness to this as well. The Lamb (Jesus) is the Judge who speaks judgment. It not only will be in His presence, but He will order this punishment as well.

This "smoke" that comes up rises from the bottomless pit. You see this "torment" is not just for a short time and is over. This is FOREVER just as heaven is forever for the believers. This "torment" is forever.  http://www.discoverrevelation.com/Rev_14.html

SLIDE 7 READ Revelation 14:12-13¹²Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.¹³And I heard a voice from heaven saying, "Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on." "Blessed indeed," says the Spirit, "that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!"

With perseverance the saints martyred for the Lord during the Tribulation. They will be blessed through rest, resurrection, and reigning with Christ during the Millennium (Rev. 20:4-6). They will receive a reward for their works of obedience.

SLIDE 8 The Harvest of the Earth At first I believed v.14 that the “one like a son of man” is Jesus himself is sitting on the white cloud with the golden crown on his head and a sharp sickle. Those who adhere to Mid-trib view see the first sickle as being the “rapture” of believers and the second harvest as a judgment of the lost.

READ Matthew 3:12 John the Baptist speaks of Jesus “¹² His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."

SLIDE 9 READ Revelation 14:14-17Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and seated on the cloud one like a son of man, with a golden crown on his head, and a sharp sickle in his hand.¹⁵ And another angel came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, "Put in your sickle, and reap, for the hour to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is fully ripe."¹⁶ So he who sat on the cloud swung his sickle across the earth, and the earth was reaped. ¹⁷ Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle.

SLIDE 10 I don’t like to think of Jesus coming after me with a sickle. I also question whether an angel in v.15 has authority to give instructions to the Son of Man. Pre-tribulation view believes the “rapture” having taken place earlier and perceive both of these harvests referring to judgment of the lost. I really don’t know. Perhaps Michael the Archangel, often referred to as a prince would have a crown and swing a sickle. But either way, it is the second sickle that would cause alarm.

SLIDE 11 Moody Bible Institute's past president George Sweeting told about a student who was befuddled when his professor spoke about the pre-tribulation rapture, and the mid-tribulation, and the post-tribulation rapture; finally the student was in despair.  He folded his arms, sat down, and said, I.A.K.. And the professor said, What does that mean?  The student said, That means I am confused.   The professor said, Confused doesn't start with a 'K'.  The student replied, You don't know how confused I am. This episode of I love Lucy popped into my head as I studied the winepress.

Ladies, the more I study the more confused I get. But one day we will understand it better by and by.

READ 1 Corinthians 13:12 “Now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as also I am known.

SLIDE 12 READ Joel 3:13 Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Go in, tread, for the winepress is full. The vats overflow, for their evil is great. Multitudes, multitudes, in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.

Today God is speaking to the world in grace, and men will not listen. One day he will speak in wrath. The bitter cup will be drunk, the harvest of sin reaped, and the vine of the earth cut down and cast into the wine press.

SLIDE 13 READ 18-20 And another angel came out from the altar, the angel who has authority over the fire, and he called with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, "Put in your sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, for its grapes are ripe."

¹⁹So the angel swung his sickle across the earth and gathered the grape harvest of the earth and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. ²⁰And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress, as high as a horse's bridle, for 1,600 stadia.

SLIDE 14 There are numerous examples in the Old Testament.

Read Nahum 1:2 “The LORD is a jealous and avenging God; the LORD is avenging and wrathful; the Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries and keeps wrath for his enemies.”

Until I did a verse search for the cup of wrath and went through the gospel, I was too focus on who would receive the cup of God’s wrath, that I forgot Jesus had already taken the cup of God’s wrath, a cup that has accumulated the fury of God against sins of all types. Heinous crimes, adultery, careless words, dishonoring thoughts, lies — all of it will be punished by God. 

SLIDE 15 READMark 14:36   (ESV) And he said, "Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will." Jesus knew extent of this suffering.

This is the cup Jesus drinks on the cross. There, at Golgotha, our Savior drained God’s cup of burning anger. God poured out his wrath, full strength, undiluted, onto his Son. Paul summarizes the meaning of this great event,

2 Corinthians 5:21 “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” .

SLIDE 16 Let us never forget the suffering that Jesus endured. As we celebrate the birth of Jesus, remember Christ ask up to remember his death and resurrection. Share your faith with those that don’t understand how much the gift of salvation cost Him!

The hour of God’s judgment has come. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow but One Day

SLIDE 17 READ Philippians 2:9-11 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,¹⁰ so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,¹¹ and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.