Prophecy
12
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Revelation
14:11
And
the smoke of their torment ascendeth
up for ever and ever: and they have
no rest day nor night, who worship
the beast and his image, and
whosoever receiveth the mark of his
name.
{11}
At the Second Coming, Jesus will
ignite a lake of fire[139]and the
leaders of Babylon, as well as all
who were employed by Babylon. will be
thrown alive into it.[140] Of
course, everyone thrown into the fire
will be consumed just as people are
consumed in fires now, but the smoke
from this lake of fire will ascend
for a thousand years because this
lake will burn as ‘a memorial
flame’ for 1,000 years.[141]
“The rest of the wicked will be
slain by a command (the sword) that
came out of Jesus’ mouth.
Their bodies will be left to rot in
the streets and the birds will gorge
themselves on their flesh.”[142]
Consider a
strange paradox: Even though
the wicked will go along with
Babylon’s demands to avoid
punishment, they will not have any
rest or peace of mind day or
night. They will feel anxious
and desperate the whole time.
The Holy Spirit will do everything,
short of violating the human will so
that, if possible, the wicked might
surrender their hearts to Jesus and
be saved. How can there be
love, joy, or peace when separated
from God who is the Source of love,
joy, and peace?”
Revelation
14:12
Here
is the patience of the saints: here
are they that keep the commandments
of God, and the faith of Jesus.{12}
When the 144,000 deliver the third
angel’s message, the intensity
of persecution will grow and
suffering will increase
substantially. The 144,000 will
outrage and highly offend those who
obey and worship the devil as though
he was “Almighty God” when
the 144,000 say that Lucifer is the
devil! This will enrage the
wicked and they will persue and
persecute the people of God even
more. Nevertheless, the 144,000
will be bold and fearless.[143]
Meanwhile, the saints will be
sustained by the Holy Spirit and the
fulfillment of God’s Word.
They will be given divine strength
and encouraged to be patient and
faithful.
Revelation
14:13
And
I heard a voice from heaven saying
unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead
which die in the Lord from
henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit,
that they may rest from their
labours; and their works do follow
them.
{13} When the
sixth trumpet sounded in Heaven,[144] the
fifth seal on The Book of Life was
broken open.[145] There
was a great deal of martyrdom for the
sake of Christ. Then I heard a
voice from Heaven say, “Write
this down, John: The Lord will
especially bless those saints who die
for Him from now on.”
“Yes,” says the Holy
Spirit, “they will temporarily
rest from their labors and suffering,
for their deeds will surely follow
them.”
This
announcement indicates that a time
has come for many of God’s
saints to be put to death.
Jesus permits a large number of
saints to become martyrs for two
reasons. First, their deaths
will eventually cause some of the
wicked to repent and be saved.
Second, Jesus permits many of His
saints to sleep through the rest of
the Great Tribulation. However,
all who die during the fifth seal
will be resurrected a few days early
to see the Second Coming of Jesus.
Those who put Jesus on the cross will
also be resurrected at the same time
to see Jesus appear in clouds of
glory.[146]
The End of
Salvation
Before
continuing with verse 14, we need to
review a few facts so we can truly
appreciate the contents of verse
13. When the devil physically
appears at the fifth trumpet, many of
the non-religious wicked will
convince themselves that Lucifer and
his angels are a religious apparition
of some kind and they will refuse to
honor Lucifer as Almighty God.
However, most of the non-religious
wicked will have a change of mind
when the devil’s demons begin to
attack them and afflict them with
searing pain. The pain that
will be inflicted on the
non-religious wicked is worse than
the sting of a scorpion! The
victims will long to die, but they
cannot.[147]
Lucifer’s
demons will freely use torture to
force resistant and undecided people
into worshiping the devil. The
devil’s objective will be the
elimination of all non-religious
people, but the 144,000 will proclaim
that the torment inflicted by the
demons proves that Lucifer is not
God, but the devil! A God of
love will never accept forced
worship! Many will choose to
obey and worship Lucifer to avoid
further suffering, but force is
always the last resort of false
religion. The 144,000 will
explain to the non-religious wicked
that in Christ, there is freedom.[148] If a
person puts his faith in his Creator
and obeys the eternal gospel, that
person will receive the seal of God
and the assurance of eternal
life. Of course, the
non-religious wicked will also see
that the saints are protected from
Lucifer’s attacks[149] during
the fifth trumpet and this will
convince many in that group to
surrender their hearts to their
Creator.[150] At the
end of the fifth trumpet, the world
will be reduced to two groups of
people: The saints, who obey
the commandments of Jesus and the
testimony of Jesus, and the religious
wicked, who obey the commandments of
Babylon and the testimony of
Lucifer. The persecution of the
non-religious wicked during the fifth
trumpet will eliminate this entire
group.
I believe the
sixth trumpet will sound in Heaven on
the 1,039th day of the Great
Tribulation.[151] At
this time, Lucifer will suddenly
change character. Overnight, he
will set aside His masquerade as a
generous and benevolent God to become
a ruthless dictator. He will
demand the creation of a counterfeit
theocracy because there is no room
for religious diversity when
“God” dwells among
men. He will set himself up as
king of kings and lord of lords and
there is nothing that mankind can do
to stop or thwart the actions of the
devil.
The devil
will suddenly dissolve the religious
systems and governments of the
world. He will set up a one
world church state. He will
instruct his forces to divide the
population of the world into groups
of one thousand and then, after
selecting one person from each unit
of 1,000, he will demand one-third of
each group be killed.[152] The
devil will announce that the first
666 people to receive his mark (a
tattoo) from each group will be
allowed to live. Those who wish to be
saved must swear allegiance to him
and his government by voluntarily
wearing a tattoo on the right hand
showing “666.” The
carnage that follows will be
degenerate, disgusting, and
sickening. Millions of
God’s people will be captured
and killed.[153] A much
larger number of the devil’s
followers will also be slain to meet
the quota. The devil and his
demons will be very pleased with
their deadly achievement.
When the
sixth trumpet ends, the population of
Earth will be less than 50% of what
it was when the censer was cast
down. When the sixth trumpet
ends, the 1,260 days allotted to the
work of God’s Two Witnesses will
end. The work and testimony of
the 144,000 will be finished.
During the sixth trumpet, the 144,000
will faithfully deliver the fourth
angel’s message. This
message calls for everyone to come
out of Babylon and defy
Lucifer’s authority. By
the end of the sixth trumpet,
circumstances will force everyone
into a firm decision. There
will be no turning back. Two
distinct groups of people will live
on Earth, a small group of sheep and
a large number of goats.
The results
of the third and fourth angel’s
messages will be encouraging.
Many people will reconsider the
eternal gospel during the fifth
trumpet and they will join with the
saints in worshiping the
Creator. Then, during the sixth
trumpet, the 144,000[154] will
present God’s final message[155] to the
world and even at this late hour, a
few more people will favorably
respond. They will put their
faith in Christ and receive the seal
of God. By the time the 1,260
days of the Two Witnesses end, every
decision will have been firmly
made. Most, if not all of the
144,000 will be dead; their testimony
is finished because God’s offer
of salvation has done all it can do.
Revelation
14:14-16
And
I looked, and behold a white cloud,
and upon the cloud one sat like unto
the Son of man, having on his head a
golden crown, and in his hand a sharp
sickle. And another angel came
out of the temple, crying with a loud
voice to him that sat on the cloud,
Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for
the time is come for thee to reap;
for the harvest of the earth is ripe.
And he that sat on the cloud thrust
in his sickle on the earth; and the
earth was reaped.
{14} In
front of me was a white cloud.
I saw Jesus sitting on the
cloud. He had a crown of gold
(Greek: stephanos, crown
of victory) on His head and a sharp
sickle in His hand.
{15} An
angel came out of the temple bringing
a message from the Father. He
called to Jesus, “Wave your
sickle over the Earth because the
harvest is ripe.”
{16} So
Jesus waved His sickle over the Earth
and the offer of salvation ended.
This solemn
scene marks the close of
redemption. Like the door on
Noah’s ark, the door to eternal
life will be shut.[156]
Consider two important
features: First, at the end of
the sixth trumpet, the Holy Spirit
will review every heart on Earth and
once He determines that every
decision is firmly made, He will
inform the Father there is nothing
further that He can do. The
Father will send word to Jesus when to
terminate the offer of salvation and
close the door to eternal life.
Second, all possibility of redemption
ends prior to the
seven last plagues because
everyone will either have the seal of
God or the mark of the beast.
Those having the mark of the beast
are incorrigible because they
committed the unpardonable sin.[157]
Revelation
14:17-20
And
another angel came out of the temple
which is in heaven, he also having a
sharp sickle. 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. 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. 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.{17}
Then I saw another mighty angel come
out of the Heavenly temple. He also
had a sharp sickle in his hand.
{18} Then,
another angel in charge of the fire
at the Altar of Burnt Offering called
to the angel who had the sharp
sickle, “Take your sharp sickle
and gather the clusters of grapes
from Earth’s vineyard, because
the grapes are ripe, ready to be
crushed in the winepress of
God’s wrath.”
{19} The angel
swung his sickle over the Earth and
everyone having the mark of the beast
was eternally condemned. These
people will be crushed in the great
winepress of God’s wrath during
the seven last plagues.
{20} I also
saw that everyone having the mark of
the beast would be crushed in the
winepress of God’s wrath outside the
city. The number of wicked
people thrown into the winepress of
God’s wrath was so great that
blood flowed out of the press as high
as the horses’ bridles for a
distance as long as the length of the
nation of Israel (from top to bottom,
about 180 miles).
This phrase,
“outside the city” means
the wicked will be “cut
off” from having any
inheritance. There is no safety
outside the city of refuge! The
wicked will not be allowed to enter
the New Earth.
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