Revelation 8

Chapter 8. The Firstfruits and the HarvestThese are those who did not defile themselves with women, for they kept themselves pure. They follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were purchased from among men and offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb. (Revelation 14:4)Having given us the two contrasting pictures of the Mother Church and the wild beast, her great adversary and oppressor, the revelator now gives us in the 14th chapter of the Apocalypse a series of special visions or pictures of incidents connected with the last days. They are not perhaps consecutive pictures following in precise chronological order, but they are representative scenes taken from the closing events of the Christian age and leading up to the very end, at once to comfort the suffering people of God and to warn the careless and ungodly of coming judgment.

The Firstfruits

The FirstfruitsThis is a picture of the company of redeemed and purified ones who are described as the firstfruits from among men, and evidently the first to be caught up to meet the Lord at His coming. Later we have a picture in the 15th and 16th verses of the full harvest of the earth, which was reaped by the Son of man. But these seem to represent an earlier company caught up to meet Him before the tribulation time had fully developed and at the beginning of the Parousia. Just what the difference between these two companies will be, and how long the interval between the firstfruits and the harvest we are not told; but that there will be a company of prepared ones who, when He comes, will open to Him immediately, and who will be characterized by a peculiar and somewhat nearer fellowship with the Lamb, seems to be very clearly intimated here. It is not an arbitrary distinction but the reward of personal character and holiness. Like the places on the right hand of Christ it is given to them for whom it is prepared, that is, to them who dare to take from God the preparation which it involves, and the separation for which it calls. Let us look more minutely at this wondrous company.

Their Number

Their NumberThey were 144,000. This is a covenant number. It is composed of the number 12 multiplied into itself and then into 1,000. Twelve being made up of three and four is the number of God’s covenant people and this multiple of 12 denotes a company who stand in peculiar and gracious relations to God. They are an elect people. They do not represent a mass, but a called-out company, who are all known individually, and all numbered. We read of another company of 144,000 in the seventh chapter of Revelation, the called-out and sealed ones among the Jews. These, as we will see later, are not Jews, but they are corresponding people of God, representing the Bride of Christ, the Gentile Church; or perhaps more correctly, the Church of Christ of no particular race or family, but of every race and tongue. God has a people that He is preparing for the coming glory, and of them it is said: “The Lord knows those who are his” (2 Timothy 2:19).

Their Place

Their PlaceThey stand on Mount Zion with the Lamb. Now we are taught by the New Testament Scriptures the spiritual significance of Mount Zion. But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. (Hebrews 12:22-24) Here Mount Zion is evidently the spiritual center of God’s redeemed people. It is not a Jewish Zion; for Zion here is the heavenly Jerusalem contrasted with Mount Sinai. This company therefore represents the elect ones of the Church of the living God, and we may all aspire to a place in their holy ranks and a part in their glorious hope.

In Touch with Heaven

In Touch with HeavenThis company is in very close touch with heaven. They understand the song that is sung before the throne above. They have learned the language of the skies. They are in harmony with the celestial home and none but they can understand the language or the music of the world above. They are heavenly people, and they are waiting for their translation to join that heavenly throng. They are not yet translated, but they are the called-out ones who will have a part in the resurrection from among the dead, and while waiting here they are walking with the Lord, and following the Lamb wherever He goes.

Separated Ones

Separated OnesThese are separated ones. They were “redeemed from the earth” (Revelation 14:3), and later it is said, “they were purchased [redeemed] from among men” (Revelation 14:4). They were not of the world but had been taken out of it in spirit and in character. God wants a separated people, intrinsically so different from the world that the world will drop them as readily as they drop the world.

Pure and Undefiled

Pure and UndefiledThey were pure and undefiled. The word “virgins” is used in the masculine here to denote a life severed and separated from all illicit and unholy things. It does not mean that they are necessarily living a strained, ascetic life. The Bible nowhere casts a slur on lawful marriage as a less holy state than celibacy; but the meaning is that they are living rightly, and free from every stain of impurity. It is in this direction that Satan’s most insidious and corrupting power has been swayed over human souls, and blessed indeed are they that have been kept undefiled. To them is possible a vision of God and a fellowship with Jesus which belong only to the Bride of the Lamb.

Obedient

ObedientThey are obedient ones. “They follow the Lamb wherever he goes” (Revelation 14:4). It is not that they follow Him, but they always follow Him, and they follow Him everywhere. It is uncompromising obedience. It is unqualified submission to His will. It is the acceptance of the test which He Himself has laid down: “You are my friends if you do what I command” (John 15:14).

True Ones

True OnesThese are true ones. “No lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless” (Revelation 14:5). They are honest, sincere, truthful; free from hypocrisy, deceit and falsehood of every kind. Can such a life be lived below? Only by those in whom Christ lives; for this was the life of the Son of man Himself. “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth” (1 Peter 2:22); “who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners” (Hebrews 7:26); and “whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did” (1 John 2:6). If we fully learn our inability to live this life and surrender ourselves in helplessness to Him, and receive Him, and constantly depend on Him to relive His life in us, we, too, shall find that “no one who lives in him keeps on sinning” (1 John 3:6), and that He “is able to keep [us] from falling and to present [us] before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy” (Jude 1:24).

A Worldwide Evangel

A Worldwide EvangelThe next picture is an angel flying in the midst of heaven. Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people. He said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.” (Revelation 14:6-7) It is very significant that the Holy Spirit has here grouped together two movements which are the peculiar spiritual features of our days. One is the movement for scriptural holiness and the other the great missionary movement to give the gospel as a witness immediately to all nations. It is such a movement which this remarkable passage describes.

1. A Swift and Earnest Message The angel flying in the midst of heaven is but a symbol of a swift and earnest message speeding over every land and hastening to the coming of the Lord. The peculiarity of the present missionary movement is its rapidity and intensity. It has all been confined within about 100 years, and from present appearances it looks as if within another generation it might reach its culmination and give the gospel to every tribe.
2. A Gospel Movement That it is a gospel movement there can be no doubt. The attempt of some interpreters to apply the term “the eternal gospel” to some special message confined to the last days, and delivered by some literal angel, is very strained and contrary to the analogy of Scripture. The word “angel” is the apocalyptical term for the minister of the gospel, and the everlasting gospel can be nothing but the old gospel of which God has said that “the word of God… liveth and abideth forever” (1 Peter 1:23). There is but one gospel and it is everlasting, and the apostle has said that even if “an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned” (Galatians 1:8).
3. For All Nations This is a message for all nations. “Every nation, tribe, people and language” (Revelation 7:9) is specified. It is the universal proclamation of the message of salvation to all men. That is the peculiar feature of the missionary movement today, that it is confined within no sectional lines but aims at the universal evangelization of the world.
4. Emphasizes the Lord’s Coming and Judgment It is a message that emphasizes the coming of the Lord and the hour of His judgment upon sinful nations and ungodly men. Its message is “the hour of his judgment has come” (Revelation 14:7). Is not this also a marked feature of the missionary movement of this age? Is there not an increasing and most encouraging tendency toward the premillennial standpoint in the missionary work of our time, and ought not this to be emphasized especially in this crisis of the age? Is there not something in it especially fitted to arouse and awaken the slumbering nations? When Jonah stood in the streets of Nineveh and proclaimed, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned” (Jonah 3:4), there was something about this message so startling and so authoritative that it forced conviction and awakened the consciences of men. And when the heralds of Christ go forth to heathen lands to declare that the Lord of earth and heaven is about to come, the King of kings is soon to summon to judgment the sovereigns of the earth, One greater than these chiefs and potentates is on His way to set up His throne, there is something in the message that is fitted to arouse the hearts of man. And God will seal it with His quickening power and make it a word of conviction, as solemn as in the days of old. The time, we are persuaded, is drawing near when the Holy Spirit will lay this burden so heavily upon the missionaries of the cross that the gospel will go forth to the world with a final and authoritative message like this apocalyptic word: “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come” (Revelation 14:7).

The Vision of the Fall of Babylon

The Vision of the Fall of BabylonThe next picture is a vision of the fall of Babylon: “A second angel followed and said, ‘Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great, which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries’” (Revelation 14:8). This does not mean that the power represented by Babylon is already fallen, but it is the intimation of its impending fall in connection with the great series of events of which the chapter is a representation. The universal spread of the gospel and the preparation of the Bride of the Lamb are intimately associated with God’s final judgments upon the great apostasy. And when the people of Christ are ready, then His providence will not linger behind, but the great panorama of history will move rapidly abreast of the Holy Spirit in the hearts and through the ministry of the Church of God.

The Warning

The WarningThe next picture (Revelation 14:9-12) brings us an awful warning against all those who yield to the power of the apostasy and receive the mark of this system of iniquity in their foreheads or hands. It is apparent that a great conflict is impending. The powers of evil are to break forth in persecuting hate against the people of God, and the martyr spirit is again to be revived and proved, and God encourages His people by this solemn warning to stand true against the terrors of Satan and the system of iniquity in which he has embodied his final assault against the kingdom of God.

A Vision of the Blessed Dead

A Vision of the Blessed DeadNext comes a vision of the blessed dead. This seems specially to apply to the period of persecution just described. Many a faithful witness will seal his testimony with his blood, but “‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’ ‘Yes,’ says the Spirit, ’they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them’” (Revelation 14:13). While this is doubtless true of all the blessed dead in every age, it will be especially true of the faithful ones of that tribulation time. Taken from the evil to come they shall enter into rest, and their works shall follow them to claim the great reward which is now so soon to be bestowed.

The Vision of the Harvest of the Earth

The Vision of the Harvest of the EarthNow comes the vision of the harvest of the earth (Revelation 14:14-16). This apparently reaches on to the close of the tribulation time and completes the number of God’s elect. It differs from the picture of the firstfruits, as the Feast of Tabernacles of old did from the Feast of Pentecost. That was the beginning of the harvest. This is its fullness. “A white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one ’like a son of man’” (Revelation 14:14) recall all the old imagery associated with the picture of Christ’s second coming. He wears upon His brow a golden crown which is the symbol of His reign so soon to begin; and He holds in His hand a sharp sickle with which He is to gather the harvest. This harvest represents the full number of His people from every age and every land. At the beginning of the tribulation it would appear that a certain number had been caught up to meet Him in the air as the firstfruits; but during these dark and troubled days there were many that have died in the Lord, and there are many living saints who have been true to their testimony and their Lord; and it may be that there are myriads more who were not caught up in the first rapture because they were not ready—foolish virgins, perhaps, with oil in their lamps, but not in their vessels; and now, the whole body of His people is gathered to Him and all the grain is husbanded into His garner. It is the finishing of the number of His elect. It is the culmination of the work of redemption through all the age. It is the great “harvest home” of time. Ask us not to tell all the minute particulars and details. It looms before us like a mighty vision, vague and indistinct in its finer features, but clear and plain in its great bold outlines. There is to be the reaping; there is to be the harvest. There are some firstfruits; and there is the fullness of the Gentiles and the completing of the Bride, the great multitude that no man can number out of every kindred, and tribe, and tongue, yet to stand before the throne and celebrate the consummation of the great redemption.

The Vintage of the Earth

The Vintage of the EarthBut there is one picture more. It is the vintage of the earth (Revelation 14:17-20). This is a very different picture, clothed with lurid light and fearful shadows of wrath and judgment. The angel who ministers in this scene is a very different angel from the Son of man. He is the angel of judgment, cold and stern as inexorable Justice itself. He, too, has in his hand a sharp sickle, but it is not for the harvest but for the clusters of the vine of the earth. The grapes are hanging rich and purple, and they are ready for the winepress of the wrath of God. How terribly this suggestive image represents the wickedness of the human heart and the human race. The heavy clusters of purple grapes speak of the passion, the sensuality, the pleasure, the selfishness of a godless world. They remind us of the banquet, the dance, the song, the deep, full draught of earthly indulgence. Yes, drink it with its brimming cup, press out the juice of the clusters of earth’s vine, revel in their beauty and luxuriance for life’s little day of frivolous pleasure; but remember the winepress of the wrath of God, the treading down of sin and its blind, foolish votaries and victims in earth’s last hours of fearful judgment, until the blood reaches to the horses’ bridles. Ah, this is the last picture of the earthly panorama! The crimson wine will yet become crimson blood; the song will end in shrieks of agony, and the winecup of pleasure become the wormwood and the gall of the wrath of God. We are sweeping on to earth’s brightest, and yet to time’s darkest, saddest hour. Before us opens the vista of glory, but beyond lies the most awful catastrophe of human history. Say to Edom’s watchmen, say to earth’s sons and daughters as they ask: “What is left of the night?” “‘Morning is coming,’ yes, the morning for us, ‘but also the night’ for you (Isaiah 21:11-12).” If one had the power to look into the horoscope of life and see you when a few years will have passed and gone in the place to which you are tending, which of these visions would it be? Would it be among the firstfruits with the Lamb, on Mount Zion, and the new song, and the spotless robes? Would it be with the blessed dead amid their enduring works and eternal rewards? Would it be with the harvest of the earth, when Christ will gather all His own in the great feast of tabernacles in the coming age? Would it be with the loving heralds hastening over land and sea to give the gospel swiftly to all nations? Or, would it be with those who go down to torment with the mark of the beast upon their brow, and those who are ripening for the winepress of the wrath of God? Ask Him who knows, to tell you, and to tell you that you will have your part in the happy company who will meet Him at His coming with joy and not with grief.