Year 6, Day 358: Revelation 14

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Setting out to study this chapter, we see our old familiar friend.  Once more we are reminded that God does not desire to end on a note of judgment.  Yes, judgment is inevitable.  Rest assured, judgment will come.  But God does not want to end on a note of judgment.  We see this truth in two different ways here in this chapter.

First, notice that there are two groups of people: the followers of God and the rest.  Admittedly, we do hear about the rest in the gleaning of the second angel at the end of the chapter.  But remember, the story of Revelation doesn’t end in this chapter.  There is more to come.  Judgment will come.  It will come for all.  But it will not end with judgment.

Before we look at the second example, let’s spend a bit more time on the people.  Notice that the first group is gathered by Christ Himself.  It is God who gathers His own.  He knows His own.  Do you see who gathers the others?  It is another angel.  We’re not told who, because it really doesn’t matter.  We can see quite clearly that there is a difference between those who are in God and those who are not.  We will all come to a moment of judgment, but those who are in Christ will experience it differently than those who are not.

The second way that we see the message of judgment is in the message of the first angel.  What does the angel say?  “Fear God.”  The first words out of the mouth of the angel is to fear God.  This is where we should begin.  He is the creator.  He is the one who brings life and establishes the rules of the entire universe.  He is the one who can bring judgment to us.  We have every reason to fear Him and hold Him in awe!

Our fear, however, should not hold us.  The angel completes the message by saying, “And give Him glory.”  We are to fear God and give Him glory.  We may begin in fear and awe, but we end in worship!  God does not want us to think that He is a God whose ultimate goal is judgment.  He is a God who will judge and can judge.  But more importantly, He is a God who we can worship because of His great power, His great love, and His great grace.

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