Latest / Admonition Podcast / Revelation 14 (Lesson 3) - Aaron Cozort - June 21, 2026
Transcript
- 0:00It's good to see everyone out this morning.
- 0:04Isaiah, go plug the screen in.
- 0:10We are continuing our study in the book of Revelation.
- 0:13Take your Bibles, if you will, and open them to chapter fourteen.
- 0:20We're not going to spend a lot of time in review as we typically do, since most of you have been here week to week.
- 0:28We don't have a lot of visitors in our class this morning, so we're going to kind of just pick up where we have left off in our previous studies.
- 0:36We are in chapter fourteen and we're going to start reading around verse six.
- 0:42but let's begin with a word of prayer.
- 0:45Our gracious Father in heaven, we come before you grateful for the day that you've granted to us.
- 0:53Lord, we are thoughtful and in honor today of fathers throughout this world who have sacrificed so much for their families, for their homes, for their congregations, and for
- 1:10your kingdom.
- 1:12We pray that your blessings be upon fathers throughout the world this day who are faithful to you and shining examples of what you would have them to be.
- 1:23Lord, we are grateful for your word and the revelation that has been given to us through the scriptures that we might know both how to live and how to move and how to have our
- 1:36being, that we might be able to live in a way that is right in your sight.
- 1:42Lord, we know that we sin and we fall short of your glory.
- 1:45I pray that you will forgive us of those things that we might always strive to walk with you in white.
- 1:53Lord, we pray and acknowledge that this world is a difficult place to live.
- 2:00And that the hardships that come in this world are difficult to overcome.
- 2:05But we're grateful for this book, the book of Revelation, that shows us the reward for the those who overcome, for those who are willing to stand fast and not bow the knee to the
- 2:19world, to Satan, to those who would have.
- 2:23Christians depart from the truth and from the faith that you have commanded us to hold.
- 2:29Lord, we pray for this nation and we pray for this world that they might hear the gospel and be obedient to it, that they might hold fast to your will and to the truth, that they
- 2:41might never forsake it.
- 2:42All this we pray and ask in Jesus' name.
- 2:45Amen.
- 2:47As chapter 14 opens, John looks up and he sees the Lamb standing on Mount Zion.
- 2:54And with him the hundred and forty-four thousand that he saw in chapter seven.
- 3:00And he sees this picture again of Christ is victorious.
- 3:09It's not debatable.
- 3:12It's not questioned.
- 3:14It's not partial.
- 3:17Christ is victorious.
- 3:21And the saints and those who dwell in heaven, the Christians who are alive on the earth, whose dwelling place is not on the earth, who are like Abraham and Sarah and Isaac and
- 3:34Rebecca and Jacob, and they're pilgrims on the earth, their sojourners on the earth.
- 3:44They might physically still be here, but their dwelling place is in heaven.
- 3:52And John sees them with the lamb on Mount Zion, and they don't look beaten, and they don't look killed, and they don't look destroyed, and they don't look persecuted.
- 4:09As a matter of fact, they're singing.
- 4:13They're singing the song of Old Testament redemption.
- 4:18We're gonna find out, we're gonna be told they're singing a song in chapter 14, we're gonna be told in chapter 15 that it's the song of Moses and the Lamb.
- 4:29And they're singing because they've won.
- 4:35Now it's not gonna always look like they're winning.
- 4:39It's not going to always look like for the righteous that they're conquering.
- 4:48And yet in Psalm seventy three
- 4:52The psalmist writer in Psalm 73 opens the Psalm dj decrying the state of everything around him because he's watching and he's looking and he's observing his own life and the life of
- 5:06the righteous.
- 5:07And he said, The light the righteous are being killed.
- 5:09There's no justice in the land, and those who are wicked are profiting and they're happy and they're they're they're in satisfaction and they go through life in peace and they die
- 5:21in a ripe old age.
- 5:22And here are the righteous and they're getting killed and they're getting destroyed and they're going to to a state of being constantly persecuted.
- 5:31And how in the world can God let the righteous suffer and the wicked be unmolested?
- 5:41And yet, about verse 13 of Psalm 73, the psalmist writer says, And then I went into the house of the Lord.
- 5:52He said, When I went back to the Lord's house, I understood the end of the wicked.
- 6:03He says, I came to my senses when I realized that I had just about forsaken God.
- 6:09I had just about testified with my mouth to the next generation that God wasn't going to deliver them, that God wasn't going to provide for them, only to realize when I went back
- 6:19to the house of the Lord that God already determined the end of the wicked.
- 6:26That their end is guaranteed, that their destruction is assured, that their judgment has is just being prolonged for a moment, but the reality is the wicked are going to get their
- 6:39kumuppins to use a word from back in my growing up years.
- 6:45You don't see it yet.
- 6:49It looks like they're living large and luxurious.
- 6:54But much like Jesus pointed out concerning the Pharisees and those who would be self righteous before God who would come into the temple in his day and they would raise their
- 7:05hands and they would look up to heaven and they would declare how wonderful they were and how much God owed them and and how much God should be happy to have all them because of
- 7:17all the great things that they've done.
- 7:19Jesus would point out that they have their reward because
- 7:23Their prayer never left the room.
- 7:27And yet here comes the sinner, here comes the publican, who bows his head before God, who smites his chest, and declares himself to be in desperate need of God.
- 7:41And Jesus asked the question, which one goes away justify?
- 7:49Chapter fourteen the Christians represented in Old Testament pictures of Israel, faithful Israel, which by the way was a rare commodity in the Old Testament.
- 8:06Faithful Israel.
- 8:09The righteous Israel that went forth and did battle and conquered and gained the promised land.
- 8:20Righteous Israel standing with the lion uh standing with the lamb on Mount Zion.
- 8:28And they're singing.
- 8:30And then we find in chapter 14, verses 6 through 12, the pronunciation.
- 8:37Babylon is fallen.
- 8:39Is fallen.
- 8:40Now that's not the first declaration that comes forth.
- 8:42There's a series of declarations that come forth from the throne of God.
- 8:46The first one comes forth.
- 8:48And he declares the gospel to the entire world through the mouth of the angel.
- 8:53Now you're not supposed to go back into history and find a time where an angel goes and declares the gospel to the entire world.
- 9:01But the vision tells us God gives people an opportunity to repent.
- 9:09Peter would tell us that the reason why this world is still standing today is because God is long suffering.
- 9:17Not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
- 9:22So the angel goes forth and does what God always does.
- 9:25He gives people an opportunity to repent.
- 9:28But in the Old Testament and the prophets, you would find that God would call his people and the nations to repentance.
- 9:36And the other side of the message was: if you reject my command, if you reject my offer, if you reject my forgiveness,
- 9:47Then you have my judgment.
- 9:52The Old Testament prophets tell us that the word of God never comes back to him void.
- 9:58It never if we can use the term inappropriately in English, it never does nothing.
- 10:07It always accomplishes his will.
- 10:11His will is either that the word goes forth and someone hears it and obeys it and is saved by it and garners a relationship with God or they're judged by it.
- 10:28So the message goes forth.
- 10:33Fear God verse seven and give glory to Him for the hour of His judgment has come, and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.
- 10:47By the way, from Genesis one to the end of the book of Revelation, the scriptures affirm God is the creator.
- 11:01And his power, his authority, and his actions in judgment are predicated on he made this world.
- 11:12And because he made it, it is his to do with as he pleases.
- 11:20And the individual who argues that this is just something that came about by some natural form of nature that occurred through billions and billions of years?
- 11:32Denies the authority and existence of God.
- 11:36You say, well, no, that you you you could believe that and still believe in God.
- 11:40No, you can't, because you have to deny everything Scripture says.
- 11:43From beginning to end.
- 11:46There's not a section of Scripture as far as a a a group or a category of Old Testament or New Testament books that doesn't declare God as the creator and reaffirm the creation
- 11:59account in Genesis 1 and 2.
- 12:00Not a single section.
- 12:03If you deny the creation account of Genesis one and two, you deny Jesus Christ.
- 12:08Because Jesus said, Do you not know he that made them at the beginning made them male and female?
- 12:13Matthew chapter 19.
- 12:15If you deny Christ, you deny the Creator.
- 12:19If you deny the Creator, you deny the Scriptures.
- 12:22If you deny the Creator in the Scriptures, you deny his authority.
- 12:26And those who deny his authority, uh, let's see, God says they're going to be judged.
- 12:34But notice, he says, verse 8, another angel followed, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen.
- 12:40That great city, because she has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
- 12:45Now we're going get into the picture of Babylon in chapter 17.
- 12:50We're going to see chapter 12 in the beast, chap uh sorry, in the dragon, and chapter 13 in the beast, and we're going to see the picture brought forward into chapter 17.
- 13:03Where this picture from Daniel's prophecy is both brought together and judged.
- 13:13So we're seeing that forecasted.
- 13:16We find another angel came forth and says, Babylon has fallen, has fallen that great city, because she has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
- 13:26Then a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If anyone worships the beast and his image,
- 13:31And receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of his
- 13:39indignation.
- 13:40He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.
- 13:46And we talked about last week.
- 13:47This isn't the final judgment.
- 13:49This isn't these individuals being placed in the day of judgment on the very last day in h into hell, because the scripture is very clear where hell is.
- 14:01Scripture is very clear where the final uh place of torment for those who are unrighteous is.
- 14:08And it is out of the presence of God and Christ.
- 14:16Second Thessalonians doesn't give us any room to interpret it any other way.
- 14:22But wherever this judgment is, it is in the presence of Christ and his holy angels.
- 14:31So, by definition, this is not the final judgment.
- 14:36By direct statement, this is not that location.
- 14:41This is a different judgment wrapped up in the Old Testament picture of God judging a nation.
- 14:52But now notice what he says.
- 14:54He says, He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.
- 15:00And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever, and they have no rest day or night who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name, here
- 15:10is the patience of the saints.
- 15:14John says, when you see this, you can be assured that God's going to judge the wicked.
- 15:25Here's the opportunity for the endurance, the standing up under a load.
- 15:31That's what the word patience means in the Greek.
- 15:34To stand up under a burden.
- 15:36This is how you can know, as Christians, that you can get through this.
- 15:43That you can be faithful to God, that you will be delivered by God from this judgment.
- 15:51You might be delivered through death, but you will be delivered.
- 15:57He says, Here is the patience of the saints.
- 16:00Here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.
- 16:06Who are the 144,000 who are singing?
- 16:10Who are those who are standing with the Lamb?
- 16:14They are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.
- 16:26So who are they?
- 16:30Christians.
- 16:33They're Christians.
- 16:36He says, Then I heard a voice from heaven saying to me.
- 16:41John in vision is going to hear a declaration.
- 16:48He saw the declaration to the world.
- 16:50He saw the first angel, the second angel, the third angel.
- 16:54Then the message comes to John, one of the beatitudes of the book of Revelation.
- 17:01You know, we've got the Beatitudes in Matthew chapter five that Jesus gives in the Sermon on the Mount Blessed are, blessed are, blessed are.
- 17:08Well, there's a number of blessings described in the book of Revelation.
- 17:12In chapter 14, verse 13, Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.
- 17:25Now that's an odd blessing.
- 17:27That doesn't sound at all like blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
- 17:35And yet God declares to John that this is a blessing.
- 17:43Here's the endurance of the saints, John is told.
- 17:48Here's the way you know you can be patient and get through the persecution and the troubles and the difficulties that come in this life, because there's a blessing, not for
- 17:58those who are alive in Christ, but for those who die in Christ.
- 18:06But this isn't strange to us.
- 18:08This isn't some new doctrine that that comes forth in the book of Revelation.
- 18:12Paul in Philippians chapter 1 says, I'm in a strait betwixt two.
- 18:19For me, for to me, for me to live is Christ.
- 18:23But to die is what?
- 18:27Gain!
- 18:30He says, I would be better off dead.
- 18:35He doesn't mean that in the way that some in the world do.
- 18:39He doesn't mean that in a state of despair.
- 18:41He is rather looking at the reward that awaits the faithful.
- 18:47In 2 Timothy chapter 4, as that time is approaching for Paul, Paul writes, I have fought a good fight.
- 18:56I've finished the course.
- 18:57I've kept the faith.
- 18:58Henceforth, there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness.
- 19:05Which is not for me only, but is for all those who love his appearing.
- 19:12What's he say?
- 19:14He says there's a blessing for those who die in the Lord.
- 19:20But for the Christians who are getting this declaration from John, they're being told God's going to judge, God's going to deliver the wicked to judgment, and many of you are
- 19:34going to die in the process.
- 19:42That's not God failing.
- 19:46That's God keeping his promise.
- 19:51He says
- 19:54Yes, says the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors and their works follow them.
- 20:04Now there's a there's a lesson here for us in this passage.
- 20:09The lesson is that we have a limited time on this earth.
- 20:17We have a limited period in which we have the opportunity to serve in the kingdom.
- 20:25We have a limited time in which we are able to function and carry out the commandments of God.
- 20:34Jesus, as he goes into Samaria, as he teaches the woman there in the well at the well in John chapter 4, as he declares to her what she needed to know to understand that he was
- 20:46not only a prophet, but the Messiah, the one they had been waiting on.
- 20:50And as she goes back into the city to tell everyone, you've got to come hear this man.
- 20:56The Messiah is here.
- 20:59The disciples have a conversation with Jesus, and Jesus says,
- 21:03Lift up your eyes.
- 21:06And look, for behold, the fields are whitened to harvest.
- 21:14But he doesn't just say the fields are white on the harvest.
- 21:17He tells the disciples, You need to pray that the Lord send workers into the field.
- 21:29Because there's work to be done.
- 21:32Because there are souls that can be saved.
- 21:36There are people ready and waiting and willing and anxious to hear the gospel and are willing to hear it and obey it.
- 21:52John is going to pass on the message to these Christians.
- 22:00When you die in the Lord,
- 22:04You don't lose anything.
- 22:08You remember what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 6?
- 22:12Jesus would tell those Jews, those Israelites, those disciples, those who were present during that sermon on the mount, lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.
- 22:24Where moth and do not lay up for yourselves treasures on this earth, where moth and rust destroys, where thieves break through and steal.
- 22:33Now
- 22:34If you manage to lay up treasures on this earth and you never had moth destroy it and you never had rust destroy it and you never had thieves break through and steal, when would
- 22:45you lose it?
- 22:47When you die.
- 22:51In spite of all the pharaohs through all the centuries that piled up all their riches in the pyramids, guess what?
- 22:58A thousand years later when the people came to plunder the pyramids, what was still there?
- 23:05All the ridges.
- 23:09And now they're sitting in a museum somewhere.
- 23:12Or they're sitting on somebody else's wall.
- 23:14But guess what?
- 23:15They didn't do the pharaohs any good now, did they?
- 23:21Jesus makes the point you can lay up treasures on this earth and it might leave while you're still here.
- 23:33But I can guarantee you, you're not taking it with you.
- 23:37He says, rather lay up treasures in heaven.
- 23:42Now a question might be asked, how can a person lay up treasures in heaven?
- 24:00Say again.
- 24:03All right, if we use the example from verse four verse thirteen, by the deeds that they do.
- 24:10That's one way.
- 24:11How else can they do it?
- 24:15By the works that they do.
- 24:16Alright?
- 24:17So so in the actions that a Christian participates in, you can lay up treasures in heaven.
- 24:26How else can you do it?
- 24:37Okay?
- 24:38Through spreading the gospel.
- 24:40Paul will point out in First Corinthians chapter three, I believe it is, that when a person labors to teach people and convert people, even when that individual does not
- 24:55remain faithful, there's still a reward that is had for the person who did the teaching.
- 25:00But there's a greater reward for the person who does the teaching when the person who is taught
- 25:05And is saved, remains faithful unto death.
- 25:09So by teaching the gospel and converting souls.
- 25:12How else?
- 25:17How about second Corinthians chapter eight and nine?
- 25:20Turn to second Corinthians chapter eight and nine.
- 25:27That part of the reason why I'm pausing a moment to to take all of this in is because there's times in which people get in the book of Revelation and they see all the visionary
- 25:38language and they see all the visions and they see all the stuff and they they they struggle to to ground themselves.
- 25:45But it's passages like this in chapter 14 where John says, Let me ground you to what we're talking about.
- 25:56Let me put you back down on solid ground so that you understand that we're talking about the everyday life of a Christian.
- 26:08And no matter how they meet their end, what they do in this life matters.
- 26:16In Second Corinthians chapter 8, Paul writes, Moreover, brethren, we make known to you the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia, that in a great trial of affliction
- 26:27the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their liberality.
- 26:33For I bear witness that according to their ability, yes, and beyond their ability, they were free.
- 26:37They were freely willing, imploring us with much urgency, that we should receive the gift and the fellowship of the ministering to the saints, and not only as we had hoped, but
- 26:51they first gave themselves to the Lord, and then to us by the will of God.
- 26:57So we urge Titus that as he had begun, so also so he would also complete this grace in you as well.
- 27:05But as you abound in everything in faith and speech and knowledge in all diligence and in your love for us, see that you abound in this grace also.
- 27:14I speak not by commandment, but I am testing the sincerity of your love by the diligence of others.
- 27:21For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty might become rich.
- 27:31And in this I give advice it is to your advantage not only to be doing what you began and were desiring to do a year ago, but now you also must complete the doing of it.
- 27:45That as there was a readiness to desire it, so there also may be a completion out of what you have.
- 27:52For if there is first a willing mind, it is accepted according to what one has, and not according to what one does not have.
- 28:00For I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened, but by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may supply their lack, that their abundance also may
- 28:13supply your lack, that there may be equality, as it is written, He who gathered much had nothing left over, and he who gathered little had no lack.
- 28:22But thanks be to God who puts the same earnest care for you into the heart of Titus.
- 28:27For he not only accepted the exhortation, but being more diligent he went to you of his own accord.
- 28:33And we have sent with him the brother who s whose praise is in the gospel throughout all the churches, and not only that, but who was also chosen by the churches to travel with us
- 28:44with this gift, which is administered by us to the glory of the Lord himself, and to show your ready mind.
- 28:51Avoiding this that any one should blame us in this lavish gift, which is administered by us.
- 28:57Providing honorable things not only in the sight of the Lord but also in the sight of men, and we have sent with them our brother, whom we have often proved diligent in many things,
- 29:08but now much more diligent because of the great confidence we have in you.
- 29:13If any one inquires about Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker concerning you, or if our brethren are inquired about, they are messengers of the churches the glory of Christ.
- 29:25Therefore show to them and before the churches the proof of your love and of our boasting on your behalf.
- 29:32Now concerning the ministering to the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you, for I know your willingness about which I boast of you to the Macedonians, that Achaea was
- 29:43ready a year ago, and your zeal was stirred up stirred up the majority.
- 29:49Yet I have sent the brethren, lest our boasting of you should be in vain in this respect, that as I said you may be ready, lest if some Macedonians come with me and find you
- 30:00unprepared, we, not to mention you, should be ashamed of this confident boasting.
- 30:05Therefore I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren to go to you ahead of time and prepare your generous gift beforehand, which you had previously promised.
- 30:14That it may be ready as a matter of generosity and not as a grudging obligation.
- 30:20But this I say, He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.
- 30:28So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver.
- 30:36And God is able to make all grace abound toward you.
- 30:40That you always having all sufficiency in all things may have an abundance for every good work.
- 30:46As it is written, He has dispersed abroad, He has given to the poor, His righteousness endures forever.
- 30:52Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruit of your righteousness, while you are enriched in
- 31:05everything for all liberality which causes thanksgiving through us to God.
- 31:09For the administration of this service not only supplies the needs of the saints, but also is abounding through many thanksgivings to God.
- 31:18While through the proof of this ministry they glorify God for the obedience of your confession to the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal sharing with them and all men,
- 31:28and by their prayer for you who long for you because of the exceeding grace of God in you, thanks be to God for his indescribable gift.
- 31:41You look in that passage.
- 31:43The context of that passage is the Jews who were going through the hardship and the famine back in Judea, specifically the Jewish Christians and the churches that had sent out
- 31:57missionaries to the Gentile world were now suffering and they were destitute and they needed help.
- 32:05And Paul was going about gathering that gift to bring back to Jerusalem, back to Judea, to help those Christians.
- 32:16Paul makes it clear that the giver of the gift receives the greater gift.
- 32:27That God would not only allow the giver to give beyond their means, but he would in turn make it possible for them to continue to give.
- 32:39But that grace was going to them because of the gift, and it was going from them to the other Christians because of their faithfulness.
- 32:54Revelation chapter 14, we consider that one of the ways that a Christian's works follow him into eternity.
- 33:06One of the ways that you store up treasures in heaven is when you give to those who are in need.
- 33:19As Paul will write, especially those of the household of faith.
- 33:26When those who have abundance and those who are destitute, by the way, that's not a command exclusively to those who have abundance, because he describes the Macedonians as
- 33:35those who were destitute.
- 33:37They're already in deep poverty, yet they're giving.
- 33:42Because they gave of themselves to the Lord first.
- 33:47So he says, While those who are destitute are giving, and those who have abundance are giving, all of them are giving.
- 33:55Poor and rich, as their giving, are being bestowed back grace from God.
- 34:06We need to remember in this life that we lay up treasures in heaven when we are obedient to God.
- 34:15We lay up treasures in heaven when we preach the gospel and teach others.
- 34:19We lay up treasures in heaven when we are willing to give of our physical possessions for spiritual reasons.
- 34:28We lay up treasures in heaven when we support those who are taking the gospel to the world.
- 34:35We lay up treasures in heaven when we help those who are in need and have no way to resolve that.
- 34:47We should be careful to note
- 34:51That laying up treasures in heaven is something you do while you are alive.
- 35:03I mention that because sometimes in our modern world of financial engineering
- 35:12People have a mindset I'm going to keep what I have until I die, and then after I'm dead, it can go to a good cause.
- 35:26Are you dead, it's too late.
- 35:31That's not to say that money that has been stored up and is given through some sort of legacy opportunity can't have good that comes from it.
- 35:44But it is to say that if you're hoarding it until you die so that you're secure, you're not trusting God.
- 35:54So many times there are individuals who are in need, and there are those who have so much abundance they'll never use it before they die.
- 36:08But they're not willing to give.
- 36:12Well, if we pay attention to the passage, their works do follow them.
- 36:23Verse 14 of chapter 14.
- 36:26Then I looked and behold a white cloud.
- 36:29We've said before in the text when you see white, it's holiness.
- 36:38Everywhere you see white in the book of Revelation, it's holiness.
- 36:43He says, Behold, I saw a white cloud, and on the cloud sat one like the Son of Man.
- 36:48Having on his head a golden crown.
- 36:50Again, the crown here, not the crown of the king, it's the crown of the victor.
- 36:56It's Stephanos.
- 36:58It is the crown of the victorious person.
- 37:01So here comes the white cloud, and the one sitting on the cloud looks like the Son of Man, and he has on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharpsickle.
- 37:13I didn't grow up in an agricultural community, I grew up on the side of an Appalachian hill.
- 37:18What in the world is a sickle use for?
- 37:25Cutting grass or wheat.
- 37:28Grain.
- 37:29We didn't we I'll put it this way, they grew weeds in eastern Kentucky, but they didn't grow grain.
- 37:40Out on the plain, you're gonna cut down the the harvest.
- 37:46And so the picture is here comes the one on the cloud.
- 37:52And he's got in his hand a sharp sickle, and notice what we read.
- 37:56And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud: Thrust in your sickle and reap, for the time has come for you to reap, for the
- 38:07harvest of the earth is ripe.
- 38:09So he who sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped.
- 38:18The picture here
- 38:22is an agricultural vision, but the reaping isn't grain.
- 38:32The harvest is ready.
- 38:33The one who sits on the cloud is told.
- 38:37It's time.
- 38:40The message from the book is: judgment has been waiting, has been waiting.
- 38:48God has been long-suffering.
- 38:50God has given people an opportunity to repent, and the time is.
- 38:59Turn to Isaiah sixty three, this is where we'll close for today.
- 39:05In Iza sixty three.
- 39:13We read, who is this who comes from Edom?
- 39:17With dyed garments from Basrah, this one who is glorious in his apparel, traveling in greatness of his strength.
- 39:27I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.
- 39:32Why is your apparel red?
- 39:35And your garments like one who treads in the wine press.
- 39:39Now you're about to read is the
- 39:42Remainder of the passage as we introduce where we're headed next week.
- 39:48You're about to read of the harvest of the nations of God's judgment coming upon the wicked, and they're going to be gathered up, and they're going to be thrown into the
- 40:03winepress of the wrath of God.
- 40:08That's not a new picture.
- 40:12That's not a prophecy about an event where blood's gonna run like a river.
- 40:19That's an Old Testament picture.
- 40:22God in Isaiah 63 inquires of the individual who's coming, why are you covered in red?
- 40:32Why does it look like you've been treading out the wine press?
- 40:40W when the grapes were pulled out of the fields, the vineyards, they'd be put into the wine press.
- 40:49And then you'd have a great big gathering and people would go through and they'd walk on the grapes.
- 41:00They'd just keep walking on it.
- 41:01They would be treading out the blood of the grape.
- 41:07There's the metaphor.
- 41:10By the way, if you need any passage anywhere in Scripture to tell you that the word wine in the Old and New Testament does not always indicate an intoxicating drink, you don't
- 41:26have to go any further than this passage.
- 41:29And Revelation chapter 14, where the grapes that get put into the wine press are tread out and described as.
- 41:40Wine.
- 41:42Can you get fermented grapes off the vine?
- 41:45No, you can't.
- 41:47Fermentation is a process that occurs by something that is dead, not something that's still connected to the vine.
- 41:56You can get wine out of the wine press, but you can't get fermented wine out of the wine press.
- 42:07Wine in Scripture does not always indicate intoxicating fermented wine.
- 42:17It never has.
- 42:19The context describes whether or not it is fermented and intoxicating or not.
- 42:26Now notice in Isaiah 63 as we continue down to verse 7: the answer that comes back from the one who's inquired of by God.
- 42:35Where have you been?
- 42:36Why does it look like you've been in the winepress?
- 42:39He says, I have trodden the wine press alone, and from the peoples no one was with me.
- 42:46For I have trodden them in my anger and trampled them in my fury.
- 42:50Their blood is sprinkled upon my garments, and I have stained all my robes.
- 42:57For the day of vengeance is in my heart, and the year of my redeemed has come.
- 43:04I looked, but there was no one to help, and I wondered that there was no one to uphold.
- 43:09Therefore, my own arm brought salvation for me, and my own fury it sustained me.
- 43:15I have trodden down the peoples in my anger, made them drunk in my fury, and brought down their strength to the earth.
- 43:24I will mention the loving kindness of the Lord and the praises of the Lord according to all that the Lord has bestowed on us.
- 43:32And the great goodness toward the house of Israel which He has bestowed on them according to His mercies, according to the multitude of His loving kindness.
- 43:42For He said, Surely they are my people.
- 43:47Who is this about?
- 43:50Where's the person coming from?
- 43:52Verse 1, he's coming from Edom.
- 43:56This is a prophecy of Isaiah about the judgment of Edom.
- 43:59How does he describe Edom being judged by God?
- 44:02First of all, he describes it as a lone man walking, covered in the wine press and the blood of the grape.
- 44:11And the lone person walking says, I did it all on my own.
- 44:16Because I looked for someone who was faithful and I couldn't find anybody, so I d I took care of it myself.
- 44:24And the picture there is of God saying, My wrath has been poured out on Edom.
- 44:32There's your picture for the remainder of Romans, or sorry, Revelation chapter 14.
- 44:37We'll get into that next week.
- 44:38Thank you for your attention.