Falling with the Beast
INTRODUCTION
I would like to introduce our message today by very briefly reviewing what we have seen in the Revelation to this point.
In Chapter 1, we see that the Son of God is the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, beginning and the end.
In Chapters 2-3, we have the letters to the 7 churches of Asia Minor.
In Chapter 4, we are introduced to the throne room of Heaven.
In Chapter 5, The One on the throne has a scroll with seven seals in His hand, a seal no one could open until the Lamb of God, Jesus, undertook the task of breaking the seals and opening the scroll.
In Chapter 6, the first six seals are broken, each with its own dramatic revelation.
In Chapter 7, God’s judgment is held back until a mighty angel with the seal of the Lord seals those who are redeemed.
In Chapter 8, the seventh seal is broken, followed by 7 trumpet judgments.
In Chapter 9, the angel from bottomless pit unleashes plagues against those who are not saved.
In Chapter 10, John is told to take the little book, and eat it: it would be sweet in the mouth, but bitter in the stomach.
In Chapter 11, verses 1-10, we see the Two Witnesses God sends to proclaim His message with awesome power, and supernatural results. In 11:1, God told John to take a reed and measure the sanctuary, excluding the court of the Gentiles. He stressed that Gentiles will trample under foot the streets of that great city for forty-two months, three and one half years.
In Chapter 12, we see Satan’s vicious attack on Israel, and God’s protection of His Chosen People.
In Chapter 13, we are introduced to the two beasts, the beast out of the sea and the beast our of the earth. Through these two beasts, Satan wages an evil war against God and all who honor Him.
In 14:1-5, we see the Lamb of God and the 144,000, standing with Him on Mount Zion with His name and the name of the Father on their foreheads. In verses 1-5, we learn something about those who stand with the Lamb. Let me read the first five verses of chapter 14:
“Then I looked, and there on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with Him were 144,000 who had His name and His Father’s name written on their foreheads. I heard a sound from heaven like the sound of cascading waters and like the rumbling of loud thunder. The sound I heard was also like harpists playing on their harps. They sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders, but no one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. These are the ones not defiled with women, for they have kept their virginity. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. They were redeemed from the human race as the firstfruits for God and the Lamb. No lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless.”
Now, in 14:6-13, we see that those who do not stand with the Lamb will fall with the beast.
I. THE FIRST ANGEL PROCLAIMS THE ETERNAL GOSPEL, 14:6-7.
A. The First Angel Announces the Eternal Gospel, 14:6.
“Then I saw another angel flying in mid-heaven, having the eternal gospel to announce to the inhabitants of the earth—to every nation, tribe, language, and people.”
In verses 6-13, there are three proclamations from angels which form a summary of events that will be amplified in the remaining chapters of Revelation.
1. This angel was flying in mid-heaven.
Commentaries offer no suggestions as to the significance of the fact that in this vision this angel is flying “in mid-heaven.” However, no part of the vision should be disregarded without consideration. It is possible that this is added to emphasize the fact that the angel is a messenger sent out from the One sitting on the throne of heaven. The word angel means messenger. This angel is in the process of delivering the message from the throne of heaven.
2. This angel has “the eternal gospel.”
This is probably the gospel announcing the glad tidings of the everlasting kingdom of Jesus Christ. Some may see this as a reference to all believers of all time, while others see this as a reference to the kingdom of Christ which is to come to power immediately after the “judgment” of the Anti-Christ.
3. The angelic proclamation is announced to the inhabitants of the earth.
Even though we would not want to be redundant, “the inhabitants of the earth” includes “every nation, tribe, language, and people.” This is not surprising in light of the Great Commission. Jesus command us to go into all the world with His message of salvation. In Acts 1:8, Jesus announces that when the Holy Spirit comes (at Pentecost), He will empower His followers to carry out the Great Commission.
Jim Carter is a business man and a member of Two Rivers Baptist Church, Nashville. Jim has just retired as Vice President of Finance and Business Services Division for LifeWay Christian Resources. I have received many reports from Jim as well as charts that underscore my limitations in the field of finance. In meeting Jim one might get the impression that he is more concerned with business and finance than in the Great Commission. I have, on a number of occasions, listened to Jim conclude his report to the board of trustees with a testimony about another mission trip in which employees, trustees, and others have gone to some place in Africa to proclaim the Gospel. Thousands of people have been saved through these mission trips. Hundreds of churches have been planted. They receive no money from the Cooperative Program, from the International Board, or from the North American Mission Board when they go on these mission trips.
Jim is a quiet, sincere man with an almost stoic face - until he begins talking about seeing all those people come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. I will never forget the first time I sat listening to Jim Carter share his testimony about the success of these mission trips, the commitment of the witnesses and the response of pagan people to the Gospel. Jim set up and led these mission trips to proclaim the Gospel of the Kingdom of God to the inhabitants of the world, men, women, and children, young and old, red and yellow, black and white - They are precious in His sight. At times, Jim becomes overwhelmed at what God is doing and he has to stop to regain his composure.
Contrast Jim Carter’s attitude with that expressed in this poem sent to me by Dr. Gene Jeffries:
"The Cold Within"
Six humans trapped by happenstance
in black and bitter cold
Each possessed a stick of wood,
Or so the story's told.
Their dying fire in need of logs,
the first woman held hers back
For on the faces around the fire
She noticed one was black.
The next man looking 'cross the way
Saw one not of his church
And couldn't bring himself to give
The fire his stick of birch.
The third one sat in tattered clothes
He gave his coat a hitch,
Why should his log be put to use
To warm the idle rich?
The rich man just sat back and thought
Of the wealth he had in store,
And how to keep what he had earned
From the lazy, shiftless poor.
The black man's face bespoke revenge
As the fire passed from his sight,
For all he saw in his stick of wood
Was a chance to spite the white.
And the last man of this forlorn group
Did naught except for gain,
Giving only to those who gave
Was how he played the game.
The logs held tight in death's stilled hands
Was proof of human sin,
They didn't die from the cold without,
They died from the cold within.
--Unknown
I cannot comprehend all there is to know about the proclamation of the Gospel revealed to John in Revelation. I do understand that God has given us a Divine Imperative (which was the title the late Dr. Roland Q. Leavell chose as the title for a book about evangelism. The proclamation of the Gospel will be important during the Tribulation period - just as it is important today.
B. The Message Is Simple, Yet Critical, 14:7.
“And He spoke with a loud voice: ‘Fear God and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come. Worship the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water.”
1. The Angel spoke with a loud voice - No one can claim ignorance of the message.
2. Those who hear the message are ordered to fear God.
3. They are ordered to give Him glory.
4. The message is urgent because “His judgement has come.”
5. He spoke with a loud voice: “Worship the Maker of heaven and earth.”
We are invited to worship the creator “of heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water.” I believe we need a fresh emphasis on worship in the church today. Perhaps a fresh look at God as the Creator “of heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water” will motivate us to worship as we should. To many people, worship is restricted to singing praise hymns, to others it involves various degrees of emotional expression. This may vary from one culture to another, and from one denomination to another.
One of my brothers left a church where he had been teaching a Bible class after this mega-church moved from a “traditional service” to a “contemporary service.” He said - and I might add that we are talking about a very intelligent and well-disciplined attorney - “The song service is something I have to sit through in order to hear the sermon.” No, he is not against music. His wife is an outstanding soloist and she was our pianist when I was her pastor before they were married. His older son played for worship services for Campus Crusades during his years at LSU, and continued with his music while in medical school. What Jim’s dad was saying was that he participated in the music, but he was fed through the sermon. His view is the New Testament position on the preaching of the Word.
A young man was directing the music for a revival in which I was preaching, and doing an exceptional job of it. One evening in someone’s home he made the statement, “When the song service is over the worship part of the service is over.” I asked, “Do you mean to tell me that when God leads a pastor to a passage of Scripture, leads him to prepare a sermon from that passage, anoints him to preach that message, empowers him while he is preaching, and speaks to the hearts of worshipers while he is preaching, that is not worship?” Today, the minister of music had become the worship leader. I have told my people that as long as I am the pastor I am the worship leader.
Let me make this as clear as I possibly can: If you do not prepare yourself for the preaching of the Word, and permit the Lord to speak to your heart and mind as the Gospel is being preached, you are out of step with the Word of God, you are not worshiping Jesus Christ, you are resisting the Holy Spirit, and you are turning a deaf ear to God - I don’t care how loud you shout, how high you jump, what you feel in your heart, how excited you are during the service, or how warm you feel toward God and everyone else when you leave.
According to the tenth chapter of Romans, it is specifically when the Gospel is being preached that God speaks to the hearts of His people. It is the through the foolishness of preaching that God convicts the lost of sin and convinces people of the righteousness available to us in and through Jesus Christ. This does not take anything away from the music. It does, however, help to keep the devil from getting involved in the music in such a way as to distract individuals from the message from the God called, God prepared, God anointed preacher of the Word of God.
Sadly, there is a lot of shallow preaching going on out there. Some preachers never prepare their own sermons, they simply plagiarize what others have written. Others have backed away from serious exposition because they have been told that people will not listen to expository sermons today. They demand topical sermons that will not offend anyone. Someone told me that a well known TV preacher has recently said that the worst thing you can do to another person is to tell him that he is a sinner. Herod didn’t like it when John the Baptist confronted him with his sin. The Pharisees and Sadducees did not like it when Jesus condemned their hypocrisy. Sinners today are not going to like it when you condemn their sins.
If you are not receiving a blessing from all aspects of the worship services you need to pray that the Lord will forgive your sins and open your eyes to His Word and His Spirit. Pray that God will prepare your heart for worship. If you ask of God you will receive His blessing. Sing praises for all His benefits. Then open your Bible and let God speak to you through the written Word and through the preached Word.
II. THE SECOND ANGEL DECLARES THE FALL OF BABYLON, 14:8.
“A second angel followed, saying: “It has fallen, Babylon the Great has fallen, who made all nations drink the wine of her sexual immorality, which brings wrath.”
A. The Second Angel Proclaims the Fall of Babylon, 14:8a.
While the modern believer may wonder why the reference to Babylon after all those centuries, there was no question in the minds of the Jewish believer of the day. The Believer’s Study Bible Notes explains why:
“Babylon was viewed with special disfavor by the Hebrews due to the humiliation of the 70 years of captivity, the gross immorality and idolatry of the Babylonians, and the influence of the Babylonian mystery religions. The Christian community came to view the capital city of Rome as the new Babylon, oppressive and immoral. Soon Babylon became the Christian code for Rome. The repetition of the verb form ‘is fallen’ emphasizes the utter desolation of that city’s downfall” [BSB].
Jeremiah told Judah that while they had remembered the slavery, suffering, and death of Egypt for centuries, God was about to raise up Babylon to take them into captivity for seventy years. When they returned from Babylon, when a remnant returned, they would no longer lament the slavery of Egypt, but the Babylonian Captivity. Those Jewish readers of the First Century would not miss the significance of this proclamation.
Commentaries have rightly noted the repetition of the word “fallen”. The NASB renders it, “And another angel, a second one, followed, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who has made all the nations drink of the wine of the passion of her immorality” (emphasis added). The NKJV has, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen.” The repetition may anticipate the judgment described in chapter 18. Those first century saints had a vital interest in the Babylon (Rome) that was persecuting them at the time. End time saints will look to the Lord to bring about the fall of that final Babylon which opposes God and seeks to destroy His followers.
B. Babylon Made All Nations Drink the Wine of immorality.
God does not do anything without a reason. I have spent so much time in the Book of Jeremiah that I have begun to give special attention to certain words. When you see the word “because” you need to pay attention to what God is saying: “Because” you have committed certain sins, I am going send judgment upon you. Another word that ties the past actions to future consequences is the word “therefore”- You have rejected me, “therefore”, I will send My judgement upon you.
God is going to bring down Babylon because she “made all nations drink the wine of her sexual immorality, which brings wrath.” No matter what other sins rebellious people commit, sexual immorality is going to find its way into the heart of their rebellion sooner or later. In ancient times, idolatrous worship was often associated with immorality. There were the fertility cults which reveled in immorality. Paul, in writing to the church at Corinth warned against immorality, practiced openly by the temple prostitutes on Acro-Corinth..
Today, Americans, including many Christians, have brought immorality into their lives and into their homes. People who profess to be Christians are becoming addicted to pornography at a rate unheard of a generation or two ago. The internet has made it easy for people to bring pornography into the homes and thus, into hearts. Movies and television programs have become progressively worse over the years. A week ago Sports Illustrated released its Swimsuit edition. Since that time cable networks have run programs about that issue of Sports Illustrated over and over. Even conservative news anchors and reporters are joking about the scantily dressed young women. In 2004, Miss America contestants dressed, or maybe we should say undressed, as never before. Sadly, many young women who profess to be Christians compromise when it comes to the swimsuit competition.
There was a time when the church condemned the strapless bathing suit. Today it is the suitless bathing strap! If there is one thing we can be absolutely sure of in the New Testament, it is the fact that God demands morality and purity of His people. Jesus taught that it is a sin for a man to lust after a women. It stands to reason that to provoke one to lust is also a sin.
Pagan civilizations are characterized by immorality. Islam condemns Christianity because of the way women in America dress. What neither Muslims nor the media will report is the horrible atrocities Muslims have often carried out against helpless people they conquer. Those who rape and kill villagers in the Sudan condemn Christians because of the was women dress in America. In ancient Corinth, immorality was a part of their religion. Temple prostitutes served their gods in their temples. Today, the way a lot of young women from Christian homes dress is enough to embarrass the temple prostitutes of Corinth.
We are strictly warned in the Scripture: if you indulge in the immorality of Babylon you are going down with Babylon. Babylon “is fallen, is fallen.” You are either going to stand with the Lamb, or you are going to fall with Babylon.
III. THE THIRD ANGEL THE DESTRUCTION OF ALL WHO WORSHIP THE BEAST, 14:9-11.
A. Those Who Worship the Beast Will Drink the Wine of God’s Wrath, 14:9-10.
“And a third angel followed them and spoke with a loud voice: “If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he will also drink the wine of God’s wrath, which is mixed full strength in the cup of His anger. He will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the sight of the holy angels and in the sight of the Lamb.”
All those who reject Jesus Christ, regardless of their reason, receive the mark of the beast. All those who reject Jesus Christ worship the beast and Satan who gives him his authority and power. Let us be very clear about something. No matter how much people argue about the dates, events, and personalities associated with this passage, all who reject Jesus Christ, regardless of the time or dispensation, are going to drink of the wine of God’s wrath. End time prophecies may seem especially frightening, but let me assure you of this one thing: any person today who rejects Jesus Christ bears in his life the mark and seal of Satan, and he can be sure of his eternal destiny. He will “drink the wine of God’s wrath, which is mixed full strength in the cup of His anger.”
There is more: “He will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the sight of the holy angels and in the sight of the Lamb.” Hell is not popular today, but there is nothing new in this. There were professors in some of our seminaries in the late fifties and early sixties who denied the existence of Satan and hell. They taught the theory of annihilation - when you die you simply cease to exist. That in spite of the fact that the New Testament is filled with warnings of torment with fire and brimstone for those who reject Jesus Christ. That is hell.
Man may choose to rebel against God. He may choose to fight against Him. He may blaspheme the very name of God, but in the end he will stand before the judgment bar of God. Listen to the letter from Don Wildmon of the American Family Association sent out over the Internet:
Dear Johnny,
Bill Maher, host of HBO's Real Time With Bill Maher, says that all Christians are crazy and are unenlightened because of their faith. Maher made the comments on MSNBC's Scarborough Country.
Maher said: "We are a nation that is unenlightened because of religion…I think that religion stops people from thinking. I think it justifies crazies. I think that flying planes into a building was a faith-based initiative. I think religion is a neurological disorder. If you look at it logically, it's something that was drilled into your head when you were a small child."
"When you look at belief in such things--as do you go to heaven, is there a devil--we have more in common with (Muslin countries) Turkey and Iran and Syria than we do with European nations and Canada and nations that, yes, I would consider more enlightened that us."Maher said he wasn't speaking only of evangelicals, but included all religious people. He said he agreed with Jesse Ventura "who had that quote about religion is a crutch for weak-minded people who need strength in numbers."
Because of their neurological disorder, he said Christians "do not believe in science and rationality." He went on to say the future does not belong to religion. One recalls the famous quote from the Beatles in the 60's that they "were more popular than Jesus."
According to Maher, the Bible is a book of fairy tales, calling the account of Jonah a fairy tale the same as Jack in the Beanstalk.
Had Maher said such things about homosexuals, he would have been immediately fired. But because he was speaking of Christians, his bigotry was acceptable to HBO, owned by Time Warner Inc.
Here is a man who has chosen to reject the Lamb of God and worship the beast and serve the devil. There is no place in heaven for this man unless he repents. If you stand for the Lamb you will stand with the Lamb, but if you stand for the beast you will fall with the beast.
B. The Punishment Is Eternal.
“And the smoke of their torment will go up forever and ever. There is no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and his image, or anyone who receives the mark of his name.”
Eternal punishment is not popular with many who profess to believe in Jesus Christ today. It is not even popular in many pulpits today. Let me stress this once again: hell is real and hell is forever. There will never be any escape from the punishing fires of hell. I heard someone say in a sermon a number of years ago that “Whatever hell is, it is rejecting God and having your request granted forever.” While that is true, it is not enough. Hell is conscious, eternal torment. John writes that “And the smoke of their torment will go up forever and ever.”
John and Jesus have more to say about hell than all other Scripture writers put together. If Jesus took it seriously, so should we.
CONCLUSION 14:12-13.
“Here is the endurance of the saints, who keep the commandments of God and the faith in Jesus. Then I heard a voice from heaven saying, ‘Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’ ‘Yes,’ says the Spirit, “let them rest from their labors, for their works follow them!”
Those who trust in Jesus will stand with the Lamb forever and ever. Those who reject Him will fall with the beast. They will suffer forever and ever. Listen to the words of hope promised to all who have faith in Jesus: “Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’ ‘Yes,’ says the Spirit, “let them rest from their labors, for their works follow them!”
Jesus invites you, “Whosoever will, let him come.”