Revelation 14:8
Taking It A Part
By chapter 14, I believe we are not only in the Tribulation but in
the Great Tribulation. This will be the worst time in human history.
Although the devil has possessed the anti-Christ and given him
helpers in the False Prophet and the Living Image, he will not be
happy. He will persecute and kill Christians like a harvest. Indeed,
that is the very picture given in \\#Rev 14:13-16\\.
Because of the powers given to the devil, I used to think he and his
evil kingdom were united and untouchable until the END of the
Tribulation when the Lord comes back to destroy them, but I no longer
think that. Don’t misunderstand me. There will be nothing that
anyone on earth can do to stop or even hinder the devil’s plans, but
there is One in heaven who will start taking the devil’s kingdom
a part as soon as he has it built.
In this chapter there are three harvests and three messages. I have
mentioned the first two harvests and the first two messages. Notice
the other message.
Rev 14:8 And there followed another angel,
saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great
city, because she made all nations drink of the
wine of the wrath of her fornication.
I. Babylon Is Fallen
A. The heart of the angel’s message is that "Babylon is fallen."
B. Who or what is Babylon?
1. Babylon is seen in four perspectives by today’s Bible
students.
a. Genesis 11 - Babylon is the place where false
religion began. Being first mentioned in Genesis 11,
"Babel" or Babylon is one of the oldest locations
known to man, especially to have retained the same
name throughout history.
b. Daniel - Babylon became one of the most powerful world
empires to date.
(1) Babylon took Israel away captive and is mentioned
in many Old Testament books, including Isaiah,
Jeremiah, Daniel, and Ezekiel.
(2) Daniel saw the Babylonian kingdom as the "head of
gold."
(a) "Head" being on the top or perhaps the most
powerful world kingdom.
(b) "Head" speaking of intellect, being one of
the smartest world kingdoms.
(c) "gold" speaking of wealth, being one of the
wealthiest world kingdoms.
(3) \\#Jeremiah 51:7\\ speaks of this kingdom as
being a golden cup in God’s hand.
c. In many of our lifetimes (2003-04), Babylon became
a key city in the Iraqi War to topple Saddam Hussein.
d. Revelation 14, 16, 17, 18 - We find Babylon as an
end-time presence.
2. What Babylon means here is still a guess, but my guess is
that Babylon refers to the anti-Christ’s end-time kingdom.
a. I think Babylon is the name God uses to describe either
parts of the anti-Christ’s kingdom or all of it
together.
b. I think it is also possible that even the location of
that ancient city will become very important in
future events.
3. I don’t know if you are aware of it or not, but there is
a major Old Testament prophecy about that city that has
not been fulfilled to this day.
Jer 50:13 Because of the wrath of the LORD it
shall not be inhabited, but it shall be wholly
desolate: every one that goeth by Babylon shall
be astonished, and hiss at all her plagues.
Jer 51:37 And Babylon shall become heaps, a
dwellingplace for dragons, an astonishment, and
an hissing, without an inhabitant.
Isa 13:19 And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms,
the beauty of the Chaldees’ excellency, shall be
as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
20 It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it
be dwelt in from generation to generation:
neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there;
neither shall the shepherds make their fold
there.
21 But wild beasts of the desert shall lie
there; and their houses shall be full of doleful
creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs
shall dance there.
22 And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry
in their desolate houses, and dragons in their
pleasant palaces: and her time is near to come,
and her days shall not be prolonged.
a. These are all Old Testament prophecies of God making
Babylon forever uninhabited by humans.
(1) A Bible doubter might figure that God failed to
keep His promise about Babylon.
(2) However, a Bible believer would know that somehow
for some reason the Old Testament city of
Babylon is going to rise in importance yet one
more time for God to destroy it; and when it
does, God will destroy it once and for all so
that it will never even be inhabited again.
(3) I believe these passages have now become and end-
time prophecies and what better place for God to
deal with the false religions of the world than
where the false religions of the world began,
Babylon.
b. Remember, it seems that God likes to finish things
where things started and it appears that everything
started in that region of the world.
C. So what does the angel’s message mean?
1. It is being given as the 2nd half of the tribulation
begins.
2. This is the time the anti-Christ is coming to the height
of his power.
3. But even as the anti-Christ is coming to the height of
his power, this angel is talking about it falling down!
a. The Greek verb tense used by the angel, as I
understand, means that the action happened at a point
in past time but continues on.
b. The implication is that the falling of Babylon has
already happened or at least it has started to
happen.
c. So even while the devil and the anti-Christ are
building their empire, God has begun to tear it down.
4. I believe there are three words to describe the anti-
Christ’s kingdom: FRAGILE yet POWERFUL and CRUEL.
a. It will be the most powerful and cruel dictatorship
the world has ever known.
b. Yet, there will be discord and jealousy and rivalry
among its heads which God will use against it to
start dismantling it as soon as it is set up.
D. At the same time, God gives another indication that the
devil’s kingdom will be suffering.
II. The Harvest of the Wicked
Rev 14:17 And another angel came out of the
temple which is in heaven, he also having a
sharp sickle.
18 And another angel came out from the altar,
which had power over fire; and cried with a
loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle,
saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather
the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her
grapes are fully ripe.
19 And the angel thrust in his sickle into the
earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and
cast it into the great winepress of the wrath
of God.
20 And the winepress was trodden without the
city, and blood came out of the winepress, even
unto the horse bridles, by the space of a
thousand and six hundred furlongs.
A. As there were three angelic messages in this chapter so there
are three harvests in it as well.
1. \\#Rev 14:1-5\\ The Harvest of the 144,000
a. That slaughter was actually finished by the time
Chapter 14 began.
b. What we read in \\#14:1-5\\ was their arrival and
welcome in heaven.
c. But even though the details of their deaths are not
given, they have been slain, mostly during the first
half of the Tribulation but perhaps the last ones
lived into the second half.
2. \\#Rev 14:13-16\\ The Harvest of the Righteous
a. One like the Son of Man sticks a sickle into the earth
to harvest it.
b. \\#13\\ An angel comforts those who will be slain,
calling those who "die in the Lord" blessed.
c. While half of the world’s population died in the first
half of the Tribulation, the saved were not being
singled out for death then.
d. They are in the last half of the Tribulation.
e. The anti-Christ with the False Prophet and the Living
Image hunts down both the saved Gentiles and Jews,
not to imprison them or even to force them to take
the Mark of the Beast, but to kill them
\\#Rev 13:15\\.
B. It is probably best for me to start with what I do not believe
about this passage.
1. I do not believe this passage describes the Battle of
Armageddon.
a. It is not because I do not believe God COULD create a
river of blood that flows to the horses’ bridle and
runs 1600 furlongs.
b. It is because I do not see any evidence of it in this
Bible passage.
c. There are several reasons for me saying that:
(1) If the book of Revelation is in chronological
order, which it seems to be, we are just into
the second half of the Tribulation; but the
Battle of Armageddon happens near the end of the
Tribulation.
(2) The Battle of Armageddon is not mentioned here.
(a) It won’t be mentioned until
\\#Revelation 16:16\\.
(b) A lot will happen between chapters 14 and
16.
(3) And the Battle of Armageddon is supposed to
happen in the Valley of Megiddo.
(a) Armageddon means "Hill of Megiddo" so we
suppose the Battle of Armageddon will take
place at the Hill of Megiddo.
(b) Megiddo was a city near the Carmel Mountains
in north Israel.
i. It is in one of the few passes through
those mountains and is a key to travel
in that area.
ii. One article said Megiddo is thought to
have seen more battles fought than any
other spot in the world.
https://www.touristisrael.com/megiddo/9448/
(c) However, that valley is not very long.
i. Only 20 miles long and 7 miles wide.
ii. But \\#20\\ refers to a river of blood
that runs for 1,600 furlongs or about
183 miles.
iii. Of course, God could start the river of
blood at Megiddo, and it could run
beyond that valley for hundreds of
miles if that is what God wanted.
(4) \\#20\\ mention that the "winepress" is located
"without the city."
(a) That city is probably Jerusalem where the
very last battle of the Tribulation will
take place \\#Rev 19:11-21\\.
(b) Megiddo is about 80 miles from Jerusalem.
2. While I do not want to sound like a heretic, I do not
think this river of blood must be taken literally.
a. I know God CAN create a river of blood in any valley
that He chooses to do so; but again, the text does
not necessarily demand one.
b. IF you were sitting on the space station when the three
angels bring their message to the earth, I do not
that you would ever see them.
(1) In fact, their messages have already been
delivered and we are reading them right now.
(2) It COULD be that God is saying that those who
are dwelling on the earth AT THAT TIME will
be told or come to understand that they are the
ones to whom the message was directed.
c. IF you are sitting in the space station when the
events described in \\#Rev 14:13-16\\ occur, I am
not certain you will see an angel descend from God’s
heaven into ours with a reaping sickle and literally
see that angel swing the sickle through the earth and
gather the souls of the saints.
d. And IF you are sitting in the space station when the
events of \\#Rev 14:17-20\\ occur, I am not sure you
will see another angel reap the wicked with a sickle
and cast them into a literal winepress to press their
blood out and into a river that flows 183 miles in
length.
C. I believe it is possible that John was seeing a symbol of the
many unrighteous deaths that will happen during the last half
of the Tribulation.
1. I believe it connected with the message of the angel.
2. God could be taking Babylon, the devil’s kingdom a part.
3. It probably won’t happen in a day, but it will happen with the
climax being at Jerusalem as described in Revelation 19.
4. Please understand.
a. I am not doubting that God can create a river of
blood that flows to the horses bridle.
b. I am doubting the interpretation that this passage is
a prophecy of that one battle.
c. I do not see the Biblical reason for making that
assumption.
d. And although God could cause a river of blood to flow
through any valley in the world He desired, I do not
think He has to literally cause one to flow from or
through the Megiddo Valley that is as high as the
horse’s bridle and flows for 183 miles.
(1) I think God COULD do that. I just don’t think
He MUST do that to fulfill this passage.
(2) At present, it seems to me that what God is
saying is that He will take a part the devil’s
kingdom one brick at a time and it will mean a
whole lot of wicked people are going to die
during the last half of the Tribulation.
D. So many wicked will die harsh deaths of judgment in the last
half of the Tribulation, like a harvest with the violence of
seen by the image of the winepress.
1. \\#19-20\\ Those harvested with be cast into the winepress
of God’s judgment and pressed so that their blood will
run out of the winepress and form a river of blood.
2. How many will die?
a. The river is pictured as being up to a horses bridle
and running 183 miles.
b. The height of a horse’s bridle varies depending on the
height of the horse; but for simplicity’s sake, let’s
say 5 feet.
c. The adult human body has between 1.2 to 1.5 gallons
of blood.
3. Imagine a gallon milk jug. The shape is roughly 10 inches
high by 6 inches wide and 6 inches deep.
a. The human body holds more between 1.2 and 1.5 gallons
of blood so increase our container to 12 inches tall
by 6 inches wide and 6 inches deep. That would just
about hold the blood for the average size human.
b. It would take four containers to make a cube 12 inches
x 12 x 12 or a cubed foot. That’s four people.
c. To get the blood deep enough to reach the horse’s
bridle, we would have to stack it 5 deep, so 20
people would have to die to get a cube of blood five
high.
d. To get that 5 foot column of blood to run 183 miles,
we would have to multiply 183 miles x the 5,280 feet
in a mile x 20 people necessary to make our single
column of blood.
e. That would require the deaths of 19,324,800 people to
die just to have a single column of blood 1 foot wide
and 5 feet high.
f. The Bible does not tell us how wide this river of
blood might be but if it is 51.7 feet wide, 1 billion
people would have to die.
g. Roughly every 50 feet in width would be another one
billion people.
h. There are roughly 7 billion people on the planet
today.
(1) By Revelation 14, the rapture will have removed
all the people presently saved. (Some think
that will be a lot of people. I’m not so sure.
Remember, it’s not the religious that are going
in the rapture but the saved.)
(2) By Revelation 14, at least 1/2 of those that are
left from the rapture will have died in the
judgments that God has sent. That is the
minimum figure. Others may be dying from other
causes who will not be counted in that figure.
(3) So at the most, if the rapture occurred today,
there would be 3 to 3 1/2 billion people—maybe
less.
(4) The river could not be more than 150 feet wide
for that would be all the blood left on this
entire planet.
How will God slay so many? He begins revealing that in the very
next chapter.
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