GETTING THE MESSAGE/God renders judgment
Revelation 14: 6-13 has some of the most vivid warnings of God’s judgment. The angel in verse 6 proclaiming an eternal gospel represents a last appeal to those who dwell on earth to turn from sin to Christ. The hour of judgment has come, so the command is to fear God and “worship him who made the heavens and earth, the sea and the springs of water.”
The creation is a monument of God’s power. The command to fear God is contrasted with the fear of the dragon or the beast. They can only kill the body, but God can destroy both body and soul in hell. God created all things out of nothing, he had no assistance, and it is to him we will have to give an account. It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Hebrews 10).
The “springs of water” point to the redemptive work of Christ. Jesus told the Samaritan woman, “He who drinks of the water I give him will never thirst. The water I give him will be a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” In Revelation 22 the Lord Jesus says to the thirsty he will give from the springs of the water of life, but the portion for the faithless will be the lake of fire. The truth of Christ alone will satiate the sinner’s soul.
Babylon in verse 8 represents all wicked world systems full of greed, lust for power, and lust for immorality. She makes the nations drink the wine of her sexual immorality, which here refers to spiritual idolatry: worshipping the beast or things of the world rather than the living God. From idolatry ensues endless miseries in this world and the world to come.
When the Lord Jesus was in the world, the Jews thought themselves morally superior to the Gentiles and the gross idolatry of the Gentile temples. However, Jesus said that the Jews honored God with their mouths, but that their hearts were full of sin and far from him. Though they tithed their income, Jesus said that the Pharisees were full of greed and enslaved to money.
The Gentile temples were sordid places. They worshipped false gods there, who were permissive of sexual immorality or other vices since they themselves were of the same nature. When men create gods of their own making, it leads to a debased society, which the name Babylon represents. The same things: greed, immorality, and vanity are on display day after day in our age. These things are innate to our sinful nature.
It is unreasonable to suppose God who made man in his holy image takes no notice of these things and will not punish them. Rather, the apostle Paul says, “Because of these things the wrath of God comes.” It is why the gospel is good news; It declares forgiveness of sins in Christ for wicked things God abhors. It calls people out of Babylon to the kingdom of his righteousness.
The value of the grace of God and salvation in Christ is magnified in verses 9-11, which describe the terrible nature of God’s wrath. God’s wrath means his inevitable justice against sinners, but wrath “poured full strength” points to his anger toward persecutors of his people. Worshipping the beast is metaphorical for the soul of a beast in those who oppose Christ.
To be tormented with “fire and sulfur” expresses inconceivable and dreadful suffering, whether it means suffering in the conscience of the soul or suffering in body and soul. We may not be able to comprehend it completely, but I’ll mention a couple of things to consider.
First, in Revelation 20 when God renders judgment from his throne, books are opened and those not in Christ are judged by what is in the books, according to what they have done. Nothing is hidden from God; every thought and deed is recorded, and exposed. God will judge no soul unjustly.
Secondly, consider that Christ drank the cup of the wrath of God at full strength upon the cross. When God numbers sin, none can stand. But if all my sins are laid upon Christ and he paid the penalty, then God is just to forgive me and account me righteous in Christ. God’s justice makes hell inevitable. Christ is the only remedy that meets the justice of God, yet many souls make every effort to avoid Christ. But let a humble heart go to Christ, it shall be welcome.