Revelation 14:6-13

Springs of Water and Wine of Wrath

A sermon by Pastor Joe Haynes

Preached on October 13, 2019 at Beacon Church

I love riding motorcycles. But I’m giving it up. And I’m glad. My decision to give up riding is for the sake of more important things. It’s part of life: carefree single men and women exchange their leisure and lifestyle for diapers and minivans; their designer jeans for diaper bags and dad jokes. Sometimes we struggle to give up things we love for the sake of better loves: we give up bad habits; addictions; false beliefs. We slowly leave immaturity behind and learn wisdom one difficult choice at a time. It should not be surprising that in the Scriptures we find a loving God warning His children to turn from what is ultimately harmful, to learn to love Him. Turning for the sake of higher and better love is part of life. We learn that in ordinary, small things, and find it’s also true in matters of ultimate and eternal importance. In the Ten Commandments hate and love are not feelings but actions: if you hate God, He will not show you His love. "You shall not bow down to [false gods] or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me,  but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments."  (Exo 20:5-6 ESV)

We’re going to see this morning that the main idea these verses teach us, is that “The fairness of God's salvation and justice show the folly of resisting him any longer.” It’s an appeal to turn from death to life while we still can. See in verse 10, the unforgettable image of “the wine of God’s wrath,” and the NASB translates this well, “mixed in full strength” so it’s impossible to miss the echo of Psalm 75-- "in the hand of the LORD there is a cup with foaming wine, well mixed, and he pours out from it, and all the wicked of the earth shall drain it down to the dregs. (Psa 75:8) Psa 75:2 tells us God’s judgements are fair and just: God will “judge the earth with equity.” The way this part of Revelation 14 is arranged reveals the equity of God’s justice—that’s why my main idea is about “the fairness of God’s salvation and justice.” The foaming cup of wine is a symbol of God’s fair justice, and the springs of water are a symbol of His fair and gracious salvation. These verses present an ultimatum: drink from one or the other.

So John wrote down what he saw, and it wasn’t chaotic and disorganized but precisely choreographed and filled with Old Testament images and ideas. First he saw three angels, in order, in verses 6, 8, and 9--each with important messages (the word "angel" in the Bible actually means "messenger").  The next thing you should notice, if you pay close attention, is that after the angels, the writer, John, speaks (12), then a voice from Heaven speaks (v13a), then the Holy Spirit speaks (13b). So in verses 6-13, then, you have 3 angels announce their messages, then three witnesses speaking for God—it’s like the shape of a paper folded in half. The three angels speak to the nations to warn them; the three witnesses from God speak to believers, to the Church, to encourage them. The three angels give a call to turn from hatred toward God. The three witnesses give hope to those who love God.

How can bad news be "Good News"?

“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,” (Rev. 14:6 ESV). This scene opens with John "seeing" "another angel" flying overhead "with an eternal gospel to proclaim"--the words are literally, "an eternal gospel (noun) to gospel (verb)": the repetition is supposed to make sure we notice that this is a message about Good News. But the first angel's message doesn't seem very much like good news, does it? And the second and third angels' messages are terrifying. Verse 6 mentions the Gospel--good news, but it's not until the end, in verse 13, that we finally hear some good news. In the middle, the messages of the second and third angels announce Babylon has fallen (a judgement) and the eternal torment of those who worship the beast. How can such bad news be "good news"? Why does John say the first angel has "an eternal gospel to proclaim" when the larger part of this passage is bad news?

It's not just the 3 angels and 3 witnesses that form a folded-page shape: even the message follows that pattern so that careful readers can see what’s really being emphasized.

·         Good news in heaven (vv6-7)

o Babylon has fallen (v8)

§  Whoever worships the beast, its image, receives its mark (v9)

·         The consequences of hating Jesus (v10)

§  Whoever worships the beast, its image, receives its mark (v11)

o The saints must stand (v12)

·         Good news in heaven (v13)

This chiastic (X-shaped) structure in verses 6-7 emphasize that the heart of this passage is the consequences of hating Jesus in verse 7.

God has been patient with those who keep hating Him for a very long time. But how long must His suffering, weak, hurting people endure? As long as His wrath is patient. When “the hour of his judgement” finally comes, is it bad news? Isn’t it Good News that finally, one day, God will bring justice to Earth and an end to evil? That He will finally judge tyrants, rapists, murderers, human-traffickers, and rebels? Isn’t it good news when sinners who turned from their sin to worship God can finally rest from their struggle with sins’ seductions? The fairness of God’s patient justice is easier to see when we another picture—the Church, the Bride, the followers of Jesus standing with Him, but surrounded on all sides by hostile forces. It’s the picture of the 144,000 sealed by the Lamb in chapter 7; saved by the Lamb in the first 5 verses of this chapter—coming out of the Tribulation, the persecution and oppression of the beast against those who follow the Lamb. In 7:13, when the 144,000 are first seen, we find out who they were: “servants of God” (7:3) hated by the world but loved by God:

13 Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, "Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?"  14 I said to him, "Sir, you know." And he said to me, "These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.  15 "Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.  16 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat.  17 For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."  (Rev. 7:13-17 ESV)

The Good News here is that God saves sinners from the eternal consequences of hating God. The Lamb leads His people to drink the waters of life: the springs of living water mentioned  in verse 7. “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,’" (Rev. 14:7 ESV). The Creator kept His people safe and led them to the waters of life. This is Good News, isn’t it? Now notice how John begins verse 6: "then I saw another angel..." (v6). It's not just some random angel. There are lots of angels mentioned in Revelation. And there are lots mentioned in the Bible. But this precise phrase, where John beholds ("behold" and "I saw" are two forms of the same word in Grk.) “another angel” in the accusative case in Greek, is repeated just four times in Revelation (Rev 7:2; 10:1; 14:6; 8:1). Each time it is exceptional.

• Then I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, with the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea (Rev. 7:2 ESV)

• Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow over his head, and his face was like the sun, and his legs like pillars of fire. (Rev. 10:1 ESV)

• 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. (Rev. 14:6 ESV)

• After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was made bright with his glory. (Rev. 18:1 ESV)

Just as the unmixed cup is supposed to remind us to ask whether God is fair, this repetition of “another angel,” shows us why He is. It might allude to the time when Zechariah also saw “another angel” and that was no ordinary angel! In this passage in Zechariah, this angel speaks for God in the first person as God and protects His people from Babylon, offers mercy to the people of Babylon, and then judges those who refuse Him.

3 And behold, the angel who talked with me came forward, and another angel came forward to meet him  4 and said to him, "Run, say to that young man, 'Jerusalem shall be inhabited as villages without walls, because of the multitude of people and livestock in it.  5 And I will be to her a wall of fire all around, declares the LORD, and I will be the glory in her midst.'"  6 Up! Up! Flee from the land of the north, declares the LORD. For I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heavens, declares the LORD.  7 Up! Escape to Zion, you who dwell with the daughter of Babylon.  8 For thus said the LORD of hosts, after his glory sent me to the nations who plundered you, for he who touches you touches the apple of his eye:  9 "Behold, I will shake my hand over them, and they shall become plunder for those who served them. Then you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent me.  10 Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for behold, I come and I will dwell in your midst, declares the LORD.  11 And many nations shall join themselves to the LORD in that day, and shall be my people. And I will dwell in your midst, and you shall know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you.  (Zech. 2:3-11 ESV; emphasis added)

Compare the first two verses of Zechariah 2 to Revelation 11:1,

·         And I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, a man with a measuring line in his hand!  2 Then I said, "Where are you going?" And he said to me, "To measure Jerusalem, to see what is its width and what is its length." (Zech. 2:1-2 ESV)

·         Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff, and I was told, "Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there, (Rev. 11:1 ESV)

See the themes of God’s protection in Zech 2:4-5; of God’s merciful warning in Zech 2:6-7, and don’t miss how those themes echo throughout Revelation 11-14!  In both cases, the prophets beheld “another angel” who brings bad news, but that bad news contains good news. And it shows the fairness of God’s salvation and judgement. How can bad news be good news? Not only is Jesus with us, even when we are surrounded by dangerous enemies. Each time “another angel” is beheld in Revelation (Rev 7:2; 10:1; 14:6; 8:1—in the accusative case in Grk.), the scene shows that Jesus is either a faithful Saviour to His people, or a fair Judge to the nations. Each of these four scenes with “another angel” is an interlude displaying Jesus as the faithful Saviour of those who love Him and the fair Judge of those who hate Him. Why would anyone choose to refuse this Saviour or resist this Judge?

Most people hate the waters of life

Imagine what the shepherds saw in Luke 2: a shining angel on that dark night, proclaiming good news of great joy for all nations, that the Saviour had been born! Then imagine, once the heavenly choir had gone, instead of the shepherds saying, “Let us go to Bethlehem and see…” that they said to each other, “Let us go to Babylon and get drunk…” The irony in these verses is worse than you can imagine.

John sees the first angel proclaiming the Gospel:

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.  7 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."  (Rev. 14:6-7 ESV)

And notice that God’s glory is described in two ways, so that through both those ways, people would worship Him for who He is as first, Creator, and second, as Saviour: He made the heaven and earth and sea; He also made the “springs of water”—the “springs of water” are a reminder of the “springs of living water” the Lamb gives us to drink (7:17). But do the nations in general come and drink the Living Water Jesus offered to the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4? No. They prefer to go to Babylon and get drunk: “Another 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.’ (Rev. 14:8 ESV).[i] God showed His love by announcing an eternal Gospel of salvation for any sinner who comes to Jesus and drinks from His springs of living water. But they didn’t want to. So the first 2 angels’ messages display the glory of God in His saving love, but they also show the terrible irony that most people hate the salvation God offers.

Babylon is mentioned 300 times in the Bible. But this is the first time in the book of Revelation. Who or what is Babylon? “Babylon the Great” is only mentioned one time in the Old Testament: in Daniel 4:30. It was the capital city of King Nebuchadnezzar who destroyed Jerusalem and took God’s people people captive. It is the poster-child for God-hating pride and arrogance. The picture it called to mind for Jewish Christians like John was that Babylon was the city that ruled an empire, destroyed the ancient city of Jerusalem, and led His people into captivity. Here in Revelation, God’s people are pictured like a new Jerusalem, and God’s enemies are compared to the great city of Babylon. It’s “a tale of two cities.” One drinks the waters of life and loves Jesus; one gets drunk, prostitutes herself, and hates Jesus.

Whoever hates Jesus will never rest, whoever loves Jesus will rest forever

If we let the frightening judgments of verses 9-11 take center-stage in this passage, we will miss the point that this is bad news surrounded by good news. But we need to see the two outcomes here, of either drinking the water of God or of looking for life anywhere else. In verse 8, “the wine of passion” is literally, “the wine of the wrath of her fornication”—meaning all nations receive God’s wrath because they join Babylon’s rebellion.

“Another 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.’ (Rev. 14:8 ESV). Don’t miss that this is a quotation from Isaiah 21:9. “And behold, here come riders, horsemen in pairs!" And he answered, ‘Fallen, fallen is Babylon; and all the carved images of her gods he has shattered to the ground,’” (Isa. 21:9 ESV). It’s a prophecy a hundred years before Babylon fell, announcing its fall beforehand by three sets of messengers (21:7)—just like we have three messengers here. The three messages arrive in a series; giving time for the people of Babylon to repent. There’s another allusion here to Jeremiah 51:6-7, giving a last warning to flee the coming judgment:

6 "Flee from the midst of Babylon; let every one save his life! Be not cut off in her punishment, for this is the time of the LORD's vengeance, the repayment he is rendering her.  7 Babylon was a golden cup in the LORD's hand, making all the earth drunken; the nations drank of her wine; therefore the nations went mad. (Jer. 51:6-7 ESV)

These are scenes from Old Testament prophecy adapted and shown in this vision to John to show what will happen to those who drink the wine of this other great city, who hate the waters of salvation through faith in Jesus alone, and trust their souls to a false saviour, called here “the beast.”

9 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,  10 he 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.  11 And 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."  (Rev. 14:9-11 ESV)

Torment with no sleep forever. The worst part, though, is that those who hate Jesus will never be able to hide from His face—the Saviour they rejected on Earth will fill their every waking thought in Hell.

What an awful and frightening preview! That while on Earth the followers of Christ are surrounded by hostile forces, persecuted, mocked, despised, while the Saviour is hated and rejected—all the while inviting rebels to repent and flee the coming wrath while they can. Verse 7 is written as a command: “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,’" (Rev. 14:7 ESV). You need to obey God’s command and flee to Jesus, who will save you, but do it today. In verse 12, the prophet, John, speaks as Christ’s messenger to tired and weary Christians: “Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus,” (Rev. 14:12 ESV).[ii] In verse 13, first John hears a voice from Heaven, then it is confirmed by the voice of the Holy Spirit! The angels overhead are supposed to get people’s attention; when God speaks and the Spirit confirms it, Christians are all ears. “And 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!’” (Rev. 14:13 ESV).

This interlude in chapter 14 is a final warning to turn from the wine of false religion and trust the pure Gospel of Jesus Christ. And the folded shape of this message urges sinners to turn and promises eternal blessing and rest if you do. The first half of the fold starts Good News, a glorious and good Creator and Saviour inviting all people to turn from hating Him to loving His Son. The second half of the fold ends with three testimonies that God will keep His promise to save and reward those who follow Jesus and drink the water of His salvation. 3 angels with messages of warning; then 3 witnesses of good news. Will you go to Bethlehem or Babylon? Are you going to drink the pure water or the foaming wine of wrath? God is gracious when He offers sinners salvation; but God is also fair when ultimately He judges those who hate Jesus. The folly of rejecting the Gospel is plain to see so that we turn from sin and endure.

In Revelation, only Jesus tells John what to write (c.f. when Jesus appeared to John in 1:11, 19; and in each of the seven letters in chapters 2-3). So to be consistent, we should understand this voice from Heaven is Jesus promising that everyone who dies in the Lord, trusting in Christ, receives happiness and joy forever! And in Revelation, the only other time the Spirit is said to speak, other than the very end of the book, is in the letters to the seven churches—seven times, “he who has an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22). If we endure, and keep God’s Word, and keep faith in Christ, like John says—if we stand firm; then we get to share in the blessing Christ has purchased for us: our patient obedience now is never wasted—our “works follow” because when we trust Jesus in life and death, we die “in the Lord”—His friends, loved by Him. And in His Kingdom, His friends are rewarded forever. No more grief, no more ache, no more yearning, no more sin to fight or doubt to face, no more patient endurance. Only glad, blessed, rest, and eternal life. The fairness of God's salvation and justice show the folly of resisting him any longer.